Forging A New Path
by bluegreysky
Summary: Hiccup was forced into dragon training by his father. He never really wanted to kill dragons, but what was he to do. After a chance encounter he decides to leave. This will be about his years away from Berk and the reason he has to come back. Contains elements from books/movies/cartoon.
1. Prologue

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamwWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

It was a rather normal archipelago day. The sun was dimmed by the clouds, the winds were blowing just enough to feel, and the people were as rowdy and loud as ever.

"I ain't agreeing to thos terms Bertha why can't ya get that through yer thick skull woman."

"Well I'm not budging no matter what ya say Stoick."

"Wouldm't ya at least be reasonable."

"Fine, maybe we'll change it to every few months instead."

"Finally some sense from ya, mad woman. Let's go Hiccup. Hiccup?"

"Camicazi? Where'd ya go ya devious little girl?"

"The three o' 'em, Thuggory included, walked out hours ago. Got bored listenin to the argument about who gets to keep the prized yak furs of the ancient archipelago hunters and for how long."

"Never a quiet moment wit dat boy/girl." Chief Stoick and Chief Big-Boobied Bertha glared with disadin at each other. Both irritated at the similarity of their last statement.

"I'm thinkin you two want ta go out an look for dem don't ya."

"Well maybe they can stay out for a while more Mogadon."

"Oh look, something we can agree on for once eh Stoick."

* * *

"Cami, Hiccup, I dun tink we should be out this far."

"Oh be quiet ya whiny boy, why do boys always whine. Wah wah wah, thats you a lot Thuggory"

"Come on thug, its jus a little more to the pond. We can get fishies maybe."

"Oh fine, but we have to go back soon, maybe they stopped arguing."

"Oh please, me mum an Hiccup's dad always yell for hours about those itchy furs."

"HEY, a dragon."

"WHAT where? Oh no l-l-lets go back you s-s-scaredy boys I know you'll c-c-cry at the sight o a d-d-dragon."

As the children talked amongst themselves they stopped paying attention to the dragon. It was a not yet full grown Monstrous Nightmare and it was now approaching them, cautiously but menacingly. It kept its head low to the ground baring its fangs having them shine in the dim north sun. its wings were spread out and arching out to the sides making it seem even bigger than it already was. The dragon was now right next to the children and they slowly stopped making any noise and turned their heads to the creature ready to devour them.

"Die you beast."

"Let it live so we can make it suffer."

"Oh you think you can mess with daughter o the Bog Burglars."

Not a second passed from the children hearing the protective roars of their parents and the dragon being pinned hopelessly to the ground. Fists and kicks smashed one after the other into the dragon's gut and limbs. Large, storng hands gripping the dragon's wings made trying to fly even an inch impossible. Quick enough the three chiefs were able to drive the dragon into unconsciousness and bind it with rope they carried around.

"What do you think you three were doing?" The children's parents were furious. You could tell from the serious tone, loud volume and very red faces. A Viking child is already tiny standing next to their mom or dad and now Hiccup, Camicazi and Thuggory felt like they could be invisible to the naked eye from how small they felt.

"We just wanted to go splorin." Camicazi whimpered out.

"We didn't think a dragon was gonna find us." Hiccup muttered.

"I told them I wanted to go back and they didn't listen." Thuggory blubbered.

"Well you coulda tried to stop us boy." Camicazi yelled.

"Ye are in no position to be yelling at the boy are ya now camicazi." Camicazi winced at the sound of her mother yelling at her again.

"You should be grateful the guards saw the direction you headed off. You'd be in the beasts stomach if we had been even a second late."

"Whaddya mean the guard saw us. I'm the best escaper in the Bog Burglars."

"Oh be quiet will ya already Camicazi this isn right the time to be trying to boast is it now?"

"Sorry ma'am."

"Alright then I thinks that's been about enough yelling at 'em don't you two think so?"

"Well maybe you're right/I suppose so Stoick, I suppose men have good thoughts every so often too."

"Argh what is with ya mad woman, can't ye be easy to get along with for once ya banshee."

"Oh banshee am I? Wel…."

"Come along children something tells me they're gonna be 'ere for a while."

"Ok sir"

* * *

The few minutes the children spent walking back with Chief Mogadon will probably be the most tense and unforgettable for a very long time. Absolutely no words were exchanged between any of them and the only sounds that could be heard were the continuous thumps of the dragon body occasionally made. Every so often each of the kids would look back at the body to see what the body got dragged over only to fall a few inches and make that reasonably loud thump. Mogadon eventually caught each of them sneaking glances and figured it was only reasonable for them to keep looking at the dragon. The damn beast had almost eaten them a little over ten minutes ago. As they start arriving at the camping site they can also hear two loud, brash, thundering voices begin to approach from behind them.

"Argh you daft she-demon you cant go back on the terms now we already agreed in front o all the other chiefs. Are ya so low ta go back on yer word annoying woman?"

"Ooh I'll make the terms what I damn please you buffon of a big dumb beast man. Any o the other chiefs want to start something it'll be the whole o the Bog Burglars they hafta deal with."

"Ah there they are, getting along as great as always." Chief mogadon says tiredly.

"Mogadon there ye are. Coulda said ya were gonna head back with the kids before us, damn near lost me head thinkin the boy had run off again. Hiccup go on the boat we can 'ead 'ome now, the agreements have been made and theres not much reason to stay on this island with the enraging boar woman.

"Camicazi we're leaving now, seems that only women can have reasonable talks in this here archipelago. See ya in a few years Stoick, been a real pleasure seein ya again."

"Aye same to ya Bertha, keep that girl safe ya 'ear."

"Of of course."

"You two are just mad some times you know, Thuggory we're headed back too, say goodbye and get on the boat. Quick son."

"Alright son, looks like the Archipelago Union of the Chiefs is done for now. What ya say we 'ead 'home now?"

"Ok daddy."

* * *

"OW. What hit me in the head?"

"Hey Useless, Chiefs been lookin for ya.

Wish I coulda finished that dream at least. Well, might as well see what dad wants.


	2. Chapter 2

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamwWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

Hiccup figured he might as well check home first. It actually already dark out and Hiccup assumed he had "accidentally" spent his whole day napping on the hill leading away from the village. It was the most peaceful spot on the island of Berk he had found so he liked to go there regularly. As Hiccup walked into his house and started looking around and calling for his dad he heard a huge roar, a thunderous crash, a monstrous crash and the clashing of steel against something maybe equally as tough. He immediately rushes to open the door and is greeted with the blazing fire of a Monstrous Nightmare. He rushes out the door scattering through the village.

"Hiccup, what are ya doing outside? Who let him stay outside? Get Inside."

A dragon streaks overhead and Stoick pushes Hiccup down a little and tosses with extreme force a wagon at a dragon and watches as it crashes to the ground. A villager stands up off the ground taking a step towards Stoick who asks about the situation.

"What have we got?"

"Gronkles, Nadders, Zipplebacks, and of course out Monstrous Nightmare."

"Any Night Furies?"

"None so far."

"Good"

* * *

In the short time his dad was talking Hiccup had managed to get away and ran as fast as he could to the forge, he'd been working there for so long and knew it was at least the one place he could be of use for sure.

"Oh how nice of ye to join the party." Gobber chimed off as Hiccup ran inside and straight to the window. He immediately got to work taking in dented, banged, crooked weapons and placing them over the coals to heat them and make them malleable.

Hiccup takes notice of the other teens running through the village carrying buckets of water and haphazardly putting out any fire they can. There's the largest out of them Fishlegs, his ruthless cousin Snoutlout, the twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and of course Astrid.

An ominous whistle resounds through the air and every single living thing in the village looks to the inky starry sky for a second just hoping to catch a glimpse of the most dangerous dragon of all.

"Night fury!"

"Get down"

"Take Cover"

Screams of warning and fear ring throughout the village and are silenced by the explosion of catapult that's been destroyed by the almighty beasts fire ball.

"Man the fort Hiccup. They need me out there." Hiccup stares at him.

"Stay…put…right there. Ye know what I mean." Now he stares with annoyance.

Hiccup immediately takes one of his inventions, a bola launcher, capable of launching the ammo for tens, maybe hundreds of feet. And jolts out of the forge looking for a good vantage point. He runs up the hill.

"Come on, gimme something to shoot at."

He hears the roars of the Night Fury. Hears the whistling of the air passing through its tremendous wings and finally sees the source of the fire ball, its mouth. He takes quick aim follows it and launches the bola. It flys through the air as Hiccup is knocked to the ground by the force created. He gets up just in time to see it hit something and hear a desperate grunting yelp.

"Oh I hit it… Yes I hit it! Did anybody see that." Hiccup hears the snarl of dragon come up behind him. "Somebody besides you."

* * *

Stoick has been fighting dragons, directing warriors, enacting counterattacks this whole time. When out of nothing he sees and hears his son bolting through the village with a shrilling voice as a Monstrous Nightmare chases him. The chase ends when Stoick tackles the beast and knocks it over and out of the way of chasing Hiccup. With a last effort though it swings at a tower knocking it down. The domino effect this particular tower had must have been the most embarrassing thing for Hiccup up to this point in his life. It knocks another tower over crashes into a house making the other tower crash into two houses and Hiccup is left in the dusty center of it all. Hiccup would receive the scolding of his life.

"Get 'im back to the house." Gobber gives him a small smack on the head to get him moving.

"Quite the performance. I've never seen anyone mess up that bad." Snoutlout says as mockingly as ever, never one to pass up a chance at humiliating him. The other teens just sort of snicker at him or stare questioningly.

* * *

Closer to the house, on the steps up to be exact Hiccup says something to Gobber.

"I hit a Night fury Gobber, I hit it with my invention."

"Sure Hiccup."

"I really did hit one."

"Sure"

"He never listens."

"Oh it runs in the family. Look you're taking it all wrong. Stop trying to be something ye not."

"I just want to be one of you guys." Hiccup opens and closes the door to his house slowly.

Hiccup doesn't stay in his home long, or at all for that matter he runs from the front door to the back door immediately and heads into the woods behind the village. As he walks he just thinks about what it is that his father despises about him. What could he do to change his fathers mind, if there even is a way to change it. As he's walking along he comes along a shattered tree, the tree leads him to over a small hill and straight into view of a tied up Night Fury.

"Oh wow, I did it. I did it." He says as though trying to convince himself. "I have brought down this mighty beast."

The dragon grunts, terrifying the boy. Hiccup approaches it again, small dagger drawn and presented as far in front as he can stretch his arms. The dragon opens its eyes and looks at the boy then simply closes them as if to accept its fate.

Hiccup stares, and stares and eyes the entire dragons body looking for the best spot to rip it open and spill its guts. He just couldn't do it though. Hiccup started cutting the ropes binding the Night Fury, each rope being cut faster and with more panic. The dragon, incredibly surprised by this, starts to get reayd, it stretches its wings and limbs little by little and then the final rope snaps. It leaps high into the air pounces on Hiccup, pinning him to ground. He lets out a primal roar the likes of which Hiccup has never heard and bounds off into the forest where Hiccup shouldn't follow. It doesn't mean he won't though.


	3. Chapter 3

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamwWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

_This time Hiccup's thoughts are written out like this._

* * *

Hiccup didn't follow after the incredible Night fury though. He may be the most curious and innovative Viking in the archipelago and he'd rather keep that title than possibly die and never have his body found. He needed to get home anyway, the clean up usually took about as much time as he'd been gone. If he was lucky he might be able to sneak upstairs before he father came walking through the door. Hiccup started sprinting and now wished he hadn't gone so far into the forest. Lowhanging branches kept smacking him in the face and he nearly tripped two or three times on the roots of trees. Running through several bushes with thorns riddling the vines was also extremely unpleasant but it didn't slow him down as he knew if his father caught him trying to sneak back he'd rather live in a bush than be scolded again in the same night.

* * *

Hiccup sneaks in through the back door being very careful as to not make the slightest noise. He tiptoes through the kitchen area into the small room where one would first walk into through the front door. He places his hand on the rail of the stair to the left of the front door and starts taking mouse-like steps up the stairs. He doesn't make it even 4 steps when he hears the loud creak and following crack of the front door hit the wall.

"Ahh what a day, damn beasts coming and taking all our food. Ah Hiccup, you're still up."

"Just heading up dad."

"I need to speak with you son."

"I think its time you learned to fight dragons/I think its time I gave up trying to fight dragons."

"Huh/What"

"You go first."

"No you go first dad."

"Alright…you get yer wish, dragon training, you start in the morning."

"Oh man I should've gone first cus…you see.. I was thinking we have enough dragon fighting Vikings but do we have enough bread making Vikings or small home repair Vikings or…"

"You'll need this, good axe it is."

"I don't want to fight dragons." Hiccup utters rather meekly.

"Oh don't make me laugh like that, yes ye do."

"let me rephrase that, I _can't _kill dragons."

"But ya will."

"Uh no I'm extra really sure."

Its time son, this is serious, when you carry this axe you walk like us, you talk like us, you think like us, understand? Now. Deal?"

Hiccup looked into his fathers eyes, noting the seriousness and sheer immovable will. "Deal"

"Train hard, I'll be back..probably."

"And I'll be here..maybe."

* * *

In the morning the teens aside from Hiccup gather at the gates to the arena along with Gobber.

"Welcome to dragon trainin." Gobber lifts the gate and walks into the dragon arena.

The teens follow behind him at a small distance taking in the sight of the large stone walls and wooden gates lined with iron.

"No turning back." Astrid assuring herself of her desire walks with determintation.

"I hope I get some serious burns." Tuffnut says with an entirely different tone of voice to Astrid.

"I'm hoping for some mauling." Ruffnut says with the same odd tone of her brother.

"Yeah its only fun if you get a scar out of it." Astid says half-jokingly in tune with the twins.

From the back of group the teens hear the voice of someone they didn't expect at all.

"Yeah no kidding right.." Hiccups unenthusiastic voice adds a different atmosphere to the new environment he's been thrown into.

"Let's get started now, the recruit who does best will win the honor of killing their first dragon in front of the entire village."

As the other teens walk away Gobber places his hand around Hiccup's shoulder.

"Don worry, you're small and weak, they'll see you as less of a target and go after the more Viking like teens instead.

Hiccup knew these would probably be the worst days of his life.

* * *

After training is done for the day Hiccup disappears almost immediately, his small presence let him leave quickly and unnoticed. He walks into the forest just hoping to get away from everything and have a calm few hours to himself. After walking aimlessly for about half an hour he came across a collection of something small and black. They had a nice sheen to them aswell and when he picked one up it was about the size of the palm of his hand and very tough. He saw that they fell in a way that seemed like a trail and followed it. He came to edge of hidden cove. The cove had a few boulders trough the lining of the walls and a sizable clear pond with some fish in it. There was a small tree with some leaves and a very large boulder on one side covered in the shade of trees outside the cove in the forest. Then flew up right before Hiccup's eyes and let out a slight roar. It barely missed the edge of the cliff and fell back into the cove but regained composure it seemed and flew over the pond and landed on a moss covered log.

_The Night Fury. That's actually the Night Fury I shot down and released yesterday. I can't believe I get to see it again. What's it doing here, why didn't it leave. _

Hiccup's mind raced.

* * *

The next day at dragon training went like the day before, Hiccup mumbled about wanting to leave, Gobber surprised them with a dragon and obstacle arena and Hiccup bolted away as soon as he could. He needed to go back to the cove to see the dragon.

* * *

Hiccup brought along a fish this time. He jumped down into the cove and looked around thinking the Night Fury had left. When he saw the dragon coming down from a rock he presented the fish. The dragon, growled at him. Hiccup went through his clothes and found a dagger, thinking that's why the dragon growled he threw it away and tried to get the dragon to eat the fish. The dragon opened its mouth wide. "Toothless. I coulda sworn…"

The dragon let his teeth pierce through its gum and clamped down on the fish narrowly missing Hiccup's hand. He swallowed it whole and looked at Hiccup who had fallen back onto a rock sticking out from the ground.

_That's incredible, he has retracted teeth. We've never known anything about this dragon not even its size and now I do and I know so much more too. Still kinda scary though._

The dragon regurgitated part of a fish and spit it out onto Hiccup's lap.

_What does he want me to do with this._

The dragon looks from Hiccup to the fish and back again. Hiccup follows his stare and lets out a sigh. _He wants me to eat this…great, just great. _Hiccup takes a bite of the fish and the dragon makes a swallowing motion. With a sickening gulp Hiccup swallows the fish and does him best to smile. _Fish is barely edible cooked and he just made me eat it raw. Stomach, I'm sorry but its you or the rest of my body. _The dragon spreads his lips. _Is he trying to copy my smile, what is he doing._ Hiccup reaches out and the dragon bares his teeth, growls, and flies to another part of the cove.

* * *

Hiccup had spent all afternoon with this dragon. He had watched him take a nap, watched him try to mimic the drawing he made in the dirt and even gotten close without the dragon growling at him. _Maybe I can try it now, maybe just maybe if I try to touch it now, I won't be mauled to bits._ Hiccup stood in front of the dragon, turned sideways, shut his eyes and motioned his hand up to nearly the level of the obelisk beasts snout. The few seconds that passed felt like years and Hiccup finally felt a cool scaly snout meet his palm. He looked at the dragon and into its emerald eye before it flew off.

_I need to know more about him. _


	4. Chapter 4

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamwWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

**Thanks for the votes of confidence. **_Hiccup's thoughts are still written like this._

* * *

After spending nearly a whole day with the dragon Hiccup noticed something extremely odd. He noticed the dragon was simply unable to fly and that didn't make any sense to him. Before heading back home for the night Hiccup tried to get a really good look at the dragon. It was missing a tail-fin. _Could that be why he can't fly, do dragons need every part of their body to be able to fly? That's…interesting. Maybe if I fix him up he'll trust me even more. It would take a day or two of secret forging but I'm, sure I could do it. _With the thought in his head, Hiccup headed home to sleep and tomorrow unwillingly go to dragon training again.

* * *

Hiccup skipped a day of training though, claiming he felt a bit ill and eventually snuck out to the cove, not for too long though because he knew Gobber would check on him to make sure he wasn't lying. He had brought over a whole barrel of fish this time.

"Hey Toothless, I hope you're hungry." Hiccup knocked over the barrel letting all the fish fall out. "Ok that's disgusting. We got some salmon, some nice Icelandic cod and a whole smoked eel." Toothless grunted at the sound of that word. He backed a step away from the food and growled. Hiccup picking up the eel and demonstrating it to Toothless showed signs of extreme disgust. He figured there was something dragons didn't like about eel and threw it away.

"Can't be here too long bud, just eat this up for now and lemme get a good look at ya." Hiccup's presumptions were right, Toothless was missing a tail-fin and maybe like birds needed both to fly like they normally do. _Alright, time to get to work. Well maybe tonight because Gobber should be there any second to check on me._

* * *

At dragon training the next morning the training went per usual. This time using a Hideous Zippleback the teens tried to douse the fire producing head with water. Nothing went as planned and the five other teens wound up strewn across the ground. Hiccup had brought an eel this time, completely unbeknownst to anyone else. The Zippleback seeing he had no water attacked him though but back off just as fast. Everyone else watched in amazement.

"Back, back, back, now don't you make me tell you again." Hiccup knew the eel was doing all the work but everyone else just watched the trouble making Viking walk the dragon back into the cave.

"Now think about what you've done." Hiccup pulled the eel from his vest with nobody watching, threw it in and shut the door.

Before anyone could question him he simple strolled off.

* * *

The next few days were spent learning things about dragons and designing a new tail-fin for Toothless. He was spending a lot less time at the cove though once he finalized a design he knew would work and began forging it.

* * *

Through his training with Toothless he learned of a special grass that made dragons as meek as house cats and used it to easily calm down a raging Gronkle in training. He learned that dragons, like many animals simply love getting a nice scratch somewhere on there bodies, and more importantly a well placed scratch underneath the chin is a guaranteed way to lay them out. He used this method to avoid being pinned by a Deadly Nadder. An odd thing he learned though is dragon's odd fixation with shiny things. One day his hammer shone sunlight off it onto the ground captivating Toothless. He was able to use a training shield to lead a Terrible Terror back into its cave after having nearly mauled Tuffnut. All these incredible little things Hiccup learned had a weird effect on others though. He was the talk of the town. Zero turned hero. Everybody wanted to talk to Hiccup, sit with Hiccup, even just stare at Hiccup. For once, he felt like maybe, just maybe, he belonged. He didn't think this would ever end.

* * *

Finally, the day came that after countless attempts and failures Hiccup had a functioning saddle and mechanical tail-fin that would probably let Toothless and him fly, fly as high and as fast as they would ever want too. The number of times they had crashed with the other saddles might as well be the number of times Hiccup was beat back in the village. _Alright time to do this._ Once Hiccup made it to the cove, on a day off of all days praise be to Odin, he met with Toothless. Toothless was used to this, the human comes and gives him a basket of fish and in turn lets himself be bound up with all sorts of material. It never really worked completely but he might as well amuse the human.

"Alright first we gotta make sure what the positions for the tail-fin let us do, lets try gliding close to the ground." Toothless flew slowly and close to the ground while Hiccup sketched out what different tail positions did. After an hour or so he knew they were ready. The sun didn't think so as it was very dark out by the time Hiccup had finished all his testing.

* * *

The next morning at the docks though there was a large commotion. The expedition to find the dragon's next had returned and with it, Hiccup's dad and Chief. Gobber was one of the first to greet Stoick back.

"Well I trust ye found the nest at least."

"Not even close. I trust you had some success at least."

"Well if you mean that your parenting troubles are over, yes." Stoick glances inquisitively.

"Congratulations Stoick, everyone is sooo relieved" "Out with the old and in with the new am I right" "No one'll miss that ol nuisance eh"

"He's gone?"

"Um yeah most afternoons, but the kid can barely walk without being swarmed by new fans."

"Hiccup?"

* * *

Somewhere in the skies over Berk, Hiccup was about to go on the greatest ride of his life, and on top of a dragon no less.

"Ok there bud, we're gonna take this nice and slow. Er position three..no four."

They speed up a little from their nice glide. "Alright…its go time, its go time."

They dive, lifting up just enough above the water of the sea and fly into the perilous rock formations along the side of the island. They make it past their first worry, an arc that destroyed their balance and speed in the past. Then, they climb, and they climb, and climb and climb and reach a height way above the tallest point in berk, and then they let themselves fall. They aren't the only thing that falls though. Hiccup's strap comes loose from the hook on the saddle and the paper with the formations fly's off. As the plummet to the ground they try desperately to regroup, Hiccup barely manages to grab onto the saddle. Feet before they crash into the treetops of the forest Hiccup maneuvers the tail to open wide with Toothless' wings and they parachute down the edge of the declining mountain's forest tops. They meet the bottom of the cliff and are racing into new rock formation. Hiccup has no time to think, only react. They work together zipping past a pillar, through an arc, whip-lashing around some sharp points and over large rocks. They fly faster than ever before missing and are greeted with the open, beautiful sea.

"Yeeeeeeaaaahh."

I almost forgot that incredible feeling, great job human

"… YOU CAN TALK?"

For now Toothless' voice (and dragonese) are written like this.


	5. Chapter 5

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamwWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

_So thoughts in general will be written like this. _Dragon's talking will be written like this.

* * *

"WHY CAN YOU TALK? WHY HAVEN'T ANY OF YOU EVER TOLD US YOU CAN TALK? WHY CAN I EVEN UNDERSTAND YOU?"

"Hey slow down, one question at a time, I didn't even get like half of what you said. I think you wanna know why I can talk though right?"

Hiccup stares down at Toothless, a look of complete bewilderment is shown on his face.

_How the hell can I understand a dragon. By Odin's damn wisdom how the hell can I understand a dragon talking to me._

"Hey are you even listening?"

"Wha. Uh...Yeah I guess, No actually no, sorry, what'd you say?"

"We should head back soon right? The large one with the hammer doesn't like you staying out too late into the dark times right"

"Large one with a…oh dad, you mean my dad yeah I uh I well forget that. Why can you talk and why can I understand you, those are hundreds of times more important."

"You can just come back to the hole tomorrow can't you, like always."

"I. Uh..well, that's ok I guess. You better explain everything though."

"I'm not totally sure what you just said but ok."

"But..oh whatever. Home."

"Alright then."

_I really hope tomorrow's lesson doesn't take forever to finish._

* * *

Same time as every other day Hiccup awoke a little after the break of dawn, like most of the village, went to get a new outfit, and had something to eat. His father kept glancing over at him very often today though and that set Hiccup on edge a bit, his father normally paid no mind to him in the mornings, or anytime really, and sadly. Hiccup promptly left the house and headed over to the arena and was again greeted by many more villagers than had ever greeted him prior to dragon training and the numbers only seemed to increase with each lesson. This time the crowd's murmurs were at an all time high.

"Alright quiet down, the elder's deciding.' From outside the arena Hiccup heard his father's voice.

_Elder? Deciding? What's going on? _

Gobber walked around from teen to teen placing the hook that replaced his left hand over each teens head and looking up at the Elder. Hiccup took note of these actions and started to put the pieces together but was still unsure of exactly what was happening. When Gobber reached Astrid he figured it would all end there.

_Whatever we're being chosen for it should be Astrid. She did the best in training and is definitely the strongest of our group. Well at least this whole thing will end soon._

Gobber placed his had over Astrid and looked at the Elder. She shook her hood. Gobber with a very inquisitive expression slowly raised his normal still attached hand over Hiccup's head. The Elder pointed at him and nodded her head. The crowd erupted with cheers.

"Oh you dun it, you dun it Hiccup. Ye get to kill the dragon." With Gobber's statement the other teen's aside from Astrid lifted Hiccup in the air.

"Alright that's my boy." Stoick yelled, letting out a hearty laugh as well.

Hiccup chuckled nervously and terrified. "Oh yeah, yes I can't wait I am soo…

* * *

…leaving. Let's pack up, looks like we're taking a little vacation, forever."

It was extremely late at night at this point. Hiccup had gone home after being forced to eat more cod and yak than ever before in celebration of his choosing. The village had kept him at the Great Hall for hours and barely let him leave when the sun was setting. Hiccup had immediately set to work in his house and around the village. He had gathered all sorts of supplies, he was going to leave way before anyone knew he was gone. He had satchels full of unused journals, clothes, some blacksmithing supplies and a large basket of fish he was carrying to the cove.

"Hey Toothless, where are ya bud?"

"Hello skinny one, see, you did make it back like I thought. Why now though? I thought the bigger one kept you locked up in the dark time?

"Don't worry about any of that, we need to go. I figured we would stay a few more days but plans change."

"You want to leave? You did say leave right? Maybe you're saying something about the green on the giant sticks.

"Yes, yes, yes I want to leave. Ok lets get you all prepped up. Here's some food. Here's the saddle and tailfin. And here's all my supplies. Don't think we're coming back anytime soon."

"Ooh more than usual today. Be careful with the shiny things, they can itch real bad if you put them on wrong."

"Yeah I got it. Well, been nice knowing ya Berk. Or not, yeah not really. Good bye."

* * *

"WHERE IS HICCUP?" The Chief had waited long enough. "HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE HERE LONG AGO, NOW WHERE IS HE?"

"Think maybe he's had a touch o the nerves maybe, eh Stoick?"

"Search for him, start in the forest. Always saw the boy wander in there."

"Alright, ya 'erd the Chief, let's start lookin for the lad."

* * *

"Ugh, where did that little runt go, taking my chance away from me. Where are you Hiccuo?!"

"Hey come one babe, let's just take a walk together, we can tell the chief we didn't find anything."

"Ugh why do we even have to look for him."

"Because what if he got eaten by a dragon."

"Stupid what the hell are you even talking about, he's the one that did best in training, why would he be eater?"

"I dunno maybe he was sleepin."

"Will you two knuckleheads just shut up for one damn second. Fuck, really…" The twins were the getting on Astrid's last nerve.

"Sheesh what dragon took a crap in your bed."

"Nice one." It seemed the twins were really pushing it with this last comment and headbutt. A quick glare from Astrid was all they need to know another sound, another breath, another thought of doing anything would be enough for them to wind up missing.

"Uh.. I don't want to interrupt but what's this over here."

"Woah look at this place, cool pond, cool tree, cool boulders." Snoutlout didn't add much to the discovery by Fishlegs.

The teens looked around for some way to get down into the cove and look for Hiccup like they were ordered to. They noticed that there seemed to be a lot of activity here as of late. Astrid picked up quickly on some imprints on the ground.

"Fishlegs, over here, now."

"Yes ma'am."

"Look, what kinds of tracks are these? I've never seen anything like these."

"I, I don't know. I think we should tell the Chief about this."

"Alright guys lets head back and tell the Chief." _What the hell happened here. Where the hell did Hiccup go. I need to figure this out. _Astrid was steaming mad.


	6. Chapter 6

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamwWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

_So thoughts in general will be written like this. _Dragon's talking will be written like this.

* * *

Hiccup and Toothless had flown silently their whole trip. They had left in the dead of night when absolutely nobody should be awake and had been flying for quite a few hours into the day. Hiccup figured that his Viking debut should've happened about an hour ago, or when the sun seemed to be at its peak in the sky. They were now approaching an island that at first glance seemed as big as Berk. They decided to land here and noticed that a large mountain at the other side of the mountain made a huge impression on them.

* * *

"Alright bud I think this place is more than big enough for us to live on."

"I think this would make a good home, don't you bones?"

"Ok first, my name is not 'the skinny one' or 'the smallest' or even 'bones'. Understand?

"For once I understand completely. What should I call you then, since you already named me"

"My name is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. Call me Hiccup."

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock? You're a Haddock. That's why you can understand me."

"What? I can understand you because I'm a Haddock? Well actually, never mind all this for now. A much bigger priority is learning about this island and how we can live on it."

* * *

A tour through the island revealed a lot of information. Deep into the dense forest the was a very large cave, large enough to comfortably fit in a whole Monstrous Nightmare family. The cave had quite a few boulders in it as well, many more than they needed or wanted in order to sculpt into various fixtures needed for Hiccup. The absolutely oddest thing though was a whole in the back of the cave that was emminating a whole lot of light. With how huge this cave was they figured there would have to be some kind of nest of Fireworms in order for the whole place to be lit up. They slowly and quietly approached the whole being very mindful of any noise coming from there as well as how much they made. They could hear bubbling though, and some smoking. They didn't know of any dragons that made bubbling sounds so advanced with slightly less worry. Lave. The hole was filled with lava. If the hole was filled with lava that meant there had to be a source.

_Lava? Why is there lava in there? Where could it co… If this is lava then maybe the mountain out there is actually a volcano. That is amazing. This whole island formed around a volcano, that is so cool. I didn't even know this could happen._

"So what is this? I think I've seen it before but what is it?"

"It's called lava and its like liquid fire I guess. I am so damn lucky to have found this. I can use this to try out all sorts of new forging techniques, it'll be incredible."

"I guess you want to live here then?"

"That would be great. Lets get you some fish to eat, cut down some wood for me to use, and anything else we see that might be of use."

_Maybe leaving Berk is for the best now. They never really cared for me and I found a great place to live with Toothless. Who knows maybe we can travel and convince people not to harm dragons as well._

* * *

Hiccup and Toothless spent the rest of day doing just about anything they pleased. Toothless spent hours out in as deep water as he could and ate fish after fish after fish. Hiccup walked and encountered some smaller dragons and walked and encountered a larger one. He came across so many species he had already known from the books but could now see up close. Except for the larger guy, that one growled at him to stay away and Hiccup thought it would be best not to die right after starting a new life.

_There's a couple different types of dragons on this island. There was a group of Terrible Terrors, an awesome group of Sidewinders, those fast little fliers tore apart a flock of birds. I even got to see a few Stickyworms in a darker part of the forest. That Deadly Nadder didn't seem to like me though so maybe I should be careful while Toothless isn't around. We definitely need to talk about me understanding him too, and why he can't understand me. Tomorrow for sure I guess._

* * *

It was an incredibly busy day for the rider and the obelisk beast. They had spent so long flying to get away from the place that would never accept something that contradicted their way of thinking. They had found this pretty decent island and figured it was good enough to settle on. Now they just needed to prepare for the years, decades, maybe century to come.

* * *

"These tracks ye found look so weird. Is this all ya found kids?"

"Yes'sir we were walking through the forest, the twins were arguing about what dragon ate Hiccup, Astrid was yelling at them, and then I noticed the cove and eventually the tracks."

"AINT NO DRAGON EAT MY BOY YA HEAR ME NOW?"

"Yes sir, sorry sir."

"Gobber. What do these tracks tell ya?"

"Well ya see all this movement, the drag marks, the big human body like markings really only lead to one thing Stoick"

"We're done for the day, get everyone back to the village."

"Stoick, ye gotta look at this no matter how bad it looks."

"We'll talk tomorrow."

Stoick may have never talked much with his son, and now of all times he certainly didn't want to regret it. This would be one of the worst nights of his life along with the night nearly fifteen years ago.


	7. Chapter 7

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamwWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

Stoick made it back home before the sun had set. Most of the village was stunned at how dead their Chief's eyes looked and how odd it was that he was slumping back home. They had only ever seen their leader like this once before and it the condition lasted over a week then. The only thing they could really hope for was that the Chief felt better soon. The teens had been the first to see him like that as they were there when he received the news that Hiccup more than likely is now dead. Gobber actually didn't seem to be doing too well himself either, being the one that had to tell Stoick what probably happened laid a huge hit on his mind and even bigger one came the second later when he had to tell Stoick.

* * *

It had been just under a week, six and a half days, when Stoick came out from his house. He looked deathly. His beard was flat with knots, his skin looked much paler than anyone else on the island. His size gone down enough for people to take notice with a second glance. As he stumbled from his house, through the village and into the Great Hall, sitting on the Chief's throne everybody probably knew what was going to be said but still would rather not hear it from their though to be indestructible Chief.

"I apologize fer not havin been a real Chief. He may have been a bit of a nuisance before, but he went out as a hero. I wasn't around to see him in dragon trainin, but the words I got ta 'ear from all of ye. They finally made me proud to be that boys father. The funeral is tonight, we'll start when the sunt starts to set.

* * *

At dusk, the whole village seemed to have gathered at the docks.

"Alright, the boats been set, anyone of ye that got something to set on it start coming up."

A few villagers came up one at a time and then in small groups. Many of them set down a blacksmithing tool, or some leather, or paper and a pencil. Others put in food they though Hiccup might like. One by one the villagers placed an item in the boat and walked back up to the village and most of them returned to their houses.

"Woah, didn't think this many people were gonna turn out for this." Tuffnut was very oblivious to his surroundings when saying this and received a quick blow to the gut from Astrid and another to the back of his head from his sister, Ruffnut.

"Geez you moron, what the fucks wrong with you, you gotta think hat, can't say it out loud."

Astrid had to punch Ruffnut as well for her statement.

"Well I never got along with my cousin but maybe he wasn't so bad these past few days.'

"He was the only one who didn't mind talking about dragons with me." Fishlegs' sorrow was a little different than the other teens, since he did talk to Hiccup sometimes.

Once it had gotten a little darker out the boat to commemorate Hiccup was set ablaze. Stoick put the first flame to the pyre aboard as close to center and mast as he could. Gobber was the next to do so and he put his closer to the rear of the boat. Some other villagers put smaller torches on the boat in another attempt to reconcile with Hiccup's death. When it was though that enough people had set torches on the boat it was pushed out to sea. _I regret not being a better father, I'm sorry._

* * *

While the village had been mourning what they thought was the loss of the Chief's son, the person in question had been learning a lot at his new home from his now two friendly dragons.

"I tink I'm gating the hang of tis."

"Sorry to say so Master but I don't really think you are, you've actually somehow gotten worse than 2 days ago. How…"

"What dooo you mean I got wess?"

"Worse, you mean worse."

Coming into the cave from another part of the island.

"So has he made any more progress?

"Ves"

"As you heard, it seems like this will take a much longer time."

Hiccup seemed to have a lot to learn, but the way he felt these past few days, full of determination and excitement to learn, he was sure he would live easily away from Berk.


	8. Chapter 8

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamwWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

The next morning the whole village had gathered at the great hall as usual. There wasn't anything special going on at the time until everybody saw Stoick walk in. He wasn't quite back to his old self but at the very least he didn't seem like a former shell of the Chief he used to be. It seems the funeral yesterday and a decent night's sleep he hasn't had in a week did a world of good for the man. Heads slowly turned as they watched their Chief no longer stumble, but stride with a new air through the Great Hall towards his throne and sit with thud.

"Mornin Berk." Although it seemed almost out of place considering how he had acted up to this point, every single villager greeted him back and some even cheered for him.

"Alright, alright. I've had a rough coupl o' days but I'm here now. I got something I think we need ta talk about. Just because Hiccup is now in Valhalla, doesn't mean we can let these beasts get the best of us." The whole Hall cheered, proud of their Chief's newfound voice.

"What Hiccup's disappearance means.." The Hall hung onto every word."

"We gotta choose another one of the trainees to kill the dragon." The Hall erupted in cheers.

"We're gathering at the arena in one hours time and the Elder will make a new decision. Just because one of us is gone, doesn't mean we'll kill any less of the shit animals. We will stay here as we've always done and kill any of them fuckers that dare come to our shores."

Stoick's final statement put everybody in a mood of overwhelming joy. They got to see their old Chief back to normal and they were going to see a dragon killing. Everybody there felt like this was still going to be a good experience at least for one of the teens.

* * *

When everybody started to leave the Hall a few people heard the Chief call some of them back.

"Gobber, kids, I need to talk to all o' ya."

"Hey Stocik, nice seein ya outta the house now. Think ye doing better?"

"Hey Chief, thank you for giving us another chance.

"You mean giving you another chance."

"Shut up moron, maybe she won't be picked."

This time Gobber took it upon himself to smack the twins together for their statements.

"Well Astird was the one who looked to be the clear winner when we were going through our training. She knew how to fight against the dragons and demonstrated a knowledge close to Hi…er… mine about each dragon and what they do."

"So? Just because my babe knows about dragon's doesn't mean she'll be picked. I mean come on, you need muscle like mine and a quick thinking mind to handle dragons." Everyone just kind of stared at Snoutlout as he finished his sentence and started flexing. When he got close to kissing his muscles is when Astrid took him by the wrist twisted him around and threw him on the floor. The yelp of pain got a giggle out of everyone else.

"Listen will ya. Long as ya did yer best during the trainin, ain't no reason ye can't be picked."

"Listen to the Chief kids."

"Understood Chief." _Finally I get the chance I deserve to kill a dragon, I can't believe the day finally came._

* * *

Later that day just as promised, the entire village showed up and covered the entire perimeter of the arena, waiting for the chance to finally see one of their own ascend to true Viking status. Everyone was clamoring and talking amongst themselves to try and guess who would be chosen. The most popular opinions were actually a tie. Since Hiccup's supposed death people thought that maybe they should have a little more faith in the new heir Snoutlout and that was the basis for his popularity. Others thought it only natural that Astrid should be chosen since she was so gifted in the aspects needed to kill dragons. She was smart and fast, she could easily kill a dragon if she had to, others thought. None of this mattered though since the elder had now arrived.

Just like last time, Gobber walked towards Fishlegs, looked at the Elder and received a shake of the head. He then walked to Tuffnut and the Elder violently shook her head. He walked over to Ruffnut but before even lifting his hand he heard a clang on the cage and looked at the Elder. Another shake. The village let out a sigh of relief that neither of twins were chosen. Now came the moment of truth. The next heir or the favorite upcoming war maiden, who would have the honor.

Gobber raised his hand over Astrid and slowly looked up at the Elder.


	9. Chapter 9

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamwWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

The original duo had found this island the day after the night they left and had been here almost 2 weeks. During one of the days Hiccup was frustrated learning Dragonese from Toothless and walked off he came across a deep and rather confusing cave. It had a few deadends and a long winding path to the end of the last route. It was here that he had found Wodensfang. When he had originally yelled at Hiccup to step away from his nest you could say he was completely stunned to hear the human speak to him in the same language. Although he could only utter words like friend or food Woden was shocked this had happened. Thinking that no human that could speak Dragonese was a bad one Woden let Hiccup approach and actually take the treasure he had been guarding, a very old and interesting crown. After a very brief conversation the two left the tunnel like cave and went back to Hiccups encampment. Toothless wasn't happy in the slightest when Hiccup returned with a small golden brown dragon coiling on his shoulders around his neck. The little dragon had short slightly dulled claws and the wingspan no bigger than a hawks. He was however very adept at communicating with both of them and rather knowledgeable about all sorts of things having to do with the Night Fury. It may have taken a day or so but the two dragons were able to be amicable with each other and not argue really. Woden became a friend to them and was now with Hiccup most of time if not sleeping. So a few weeks have passed since the leaving and they've all been together.

* * *

Hiccup and his dragons had decided to take a break from learning "Dragonese" as they called it.

Wodensfang, the new small dragon Hiccup had befriended, thought that taking a break for one day and refocusing on their temporary shelter might do them a bit of good. It might relieve their stress a bit, and at the very least Woden wouldn't have to be distressed or impatient with his master for once.

Today though was not a total break from learning a foreign language. Hiccup was going to spend the time talking to his scaly friends to get a better understanding of how much Norse they understood. Toothless had stated before that he could comprehend some of the words coming from Hiccup but a larger portion of them might as well be said somebody deaf. Woden was a lot more well versed in Norse, sometimes, though rarely, teaching Hiccup a new word or two.

"Ok. I. Am. Talking. In. Norse."

"Norse, got it."

"These" started Hiccup "are leafs, and this is grass." He continued demonstrating the two.

"Leafs, got it, and they're on trees right?"

"Yeah that's it, and grass is on the ground."

"Ground, the rough stuff under my paws."

"I will never understand why you were able to learn the names for villages and oceans so easily but things like dirt and grass take you so long. I mean, it took you a day to learn how to repeat the names of so many constellations but three days to learn that fish and eel had names."

"Ok I get it already, geez Hiccup, its at least a lot better than you're doing."

"To be fair, Master has had no familiarity with our tongue, yet dragons have had hundreds of years with all the tongues humans speak. He's progressing at a decent rate by the way and Toothless, what is with the weird way you learn anyway."

"Does it really matter? I don't really know either or care really. Why don't we keep getting supplies for our flights anyway, don't wanna run outta food anytime soon."

"Maybe he's right Wodernsfang. Since we're gonna be travelin might as well pack up a little more, who knows what could happen."

"Well if it's what you want. It does make some sense as well, ok then."

Considering the amount of supplies Hiccup and Toothless had gathered over the last near two weeks they couldn't really think of anything else they would need once they set off to explore the world.

"So, any words before we start going around?"

"To the food we'll eat from all the different dirts." They'd rather not correct him at a time like this.

"To the discoveries we'll make about ourselves and the places we go."

"To making lives that'll be remembered in different ways by different people."

And with their own little thoughts they set off this island they called home with sights set on the horizon.


	10. Chapter 10

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamwWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

After setting off from the island they had been occupying for a few weeks Hiccup, Toothless, and Wodensfang had spent a nearly a full day flying before taking a break at a rock formation of extremely tall pillars. They had been flying next to an enormous fog cloud since spotting it a few hours after setting off. Hiccup looked up the stars thinking that even the short distance away from Berk made a significant change in the constellations he saw.

"So where do you think we should head for now?"

"Well I think I have a very …"

Wodensfang was interrupted by a large hoard of dragons flying towards them. It looked like there were mainly dragons Hiccup was familiar with back on the island as well a few species he hadn't seen before. A Monstrous Nightmare at the head of the hoard roared at them as if to intimidate them.

"Hey who do you think you're roaring at?"

"I think I'm roaring at a burnt worm, what of it"

"Toothless wait."

"No, I'm chasing after him, I wont let some pathetic shitty nightmare try to insult me."

Without another word Toothless leaped off the rock into the fog and started to try to find the nightmare. The fog was extremely think and a human like Hiccup had next to no hope of even seeing maybe a few feet in front of him. A dragon however didn't need to rely solely on sight. They used their smell to pick up on the scent of other dragons, or past scents. Dragon scents would always linger anywhere for the purpose of preserving territory. Something was calling out to the dragons, giving them another way of making their way through the fog. A surprise to Hiccup this time was that not only was the fog super dense, but that Toothless was swerving through a maze of giant stone pillars as well.

"Hey Woden, you hear that?"

"Yes I do, that must be how a lot of these dragons are easily getting through here.

"Hey, I could find that shit colored nightmare without any help."

"I'd rather talk about why you are disobeying Master Hiccup and on that matter why are you helping him fly through here Master, he was so rude."

"Oh it's no big deal, Toothless got his pride hurt a bit so its ok to go out of our way for a minute or two."

* * *

The three had spent about 4 minutes flying through the fog when they broke through and came upon a huge mountain on an island with barely any land other than enough for the mountain. The rest of the land, as if to say something about it, was completely barren, covered in small rocks and burnt plantlife. There was absolutely no greenery in sight but many sharp boulders protruding from the ground or spike coming out of the mountain.

"Ah I smell him, up there, the damn coward."

"Please hurry would you Toothless."

"Uh maybe we should turn back actually." Hiccup had noticed now that all the dragons in the hoard were going into, what was supposed to be a mountain. Most of them had large meals in their jaws as well which made no sense to Hiccup. Dragons weren't known to eat their food anywhere other than the site of the kill. Toothless just headed straight for the nightmare though. They followed him right to the top of the mountain and looked down where the nightmare should be.

"Oh fuck it's a volcano, why they all flying into a volcano. Maybe we should just go."

"Oh don't be so scared Hiccup, we can at least look inside to see whats going on right?"

"Toothless, I think we should listen to Master this time."

"Never mind. Lets go in, I gotta know what they're all up to."

* * *

After heading down into the volcano they landed on a ledge that let them look down into the steam cloud being let out. The whole place looked evil, the glow from the lava below gave off a reasonable amount of heat for how above they were and there was a glowing orange reddish glow coming up. One by one dragons would fly over the pit and drop the kills they had. They then flew off to the sides and landed on similar ledges and every single one of them seemed to crowd against the walls and sort of shook.

_They're all getting as far away from the edge as possible. Not only that, so many of these dragons are shaking, like they're terrified, like they're little snakes trying to get away. Maybe…_

Hiccup's lost his last train of thought when an enormous jaw the size of two Monstrous Nightmares flew up and stopped right in front of them. Hiccup looked the jaw over, full of teeth bigger than he was and traced them to the edge of the mouth. He saw an eye, an eye the size of his head and the eye saw him. That blood red eye with a pupil as dark as night stared at him. The jaw swayed towards him and the dragons and started opening wider.

"Toothless, GO GO GO. We need to get out of here now.

Toothless didn't even respond he just flew as fast as he could towards the entrance they used.


	11. Chapter 11

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamwWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

_Oh no, oh no, oh no, definitely did not see that coming, we're fucked, so fucked oh no, gotta get out fast._

Toothless flapped his wings as hard as he could, desperately trying to make it out. As soon as the giant maw of that dragon's hit the inner wall of the volcano all Hell broke loose. The sound of dragon roars and shrieks filled the whole interior. The shrieks of terror, the shrieks of desperation, Hiccup hoped he would never have to live through this sort of pure fear that he was going through now, assuming he even lived through the event.

"Who has tread into my lair, unknown, unwelcome, and undeserving to see me? Who dares come in here and not offer me so much as an appetizer and I so gracious did not devour you immediately. Who, who is it that disrespects me, the mighty Corrupter. I smell you trying to escape and I will devour you."

"Like Hell you will you fat snake"

"Toothless I really don't think this is the kind of dragon you should make light of."

The mountain of a dragon was climbing up through the top of the volcano crushing any unfortunate dragons not fast enough to make it not. Oddly enough, like a snake coming up from a hole, the beast seemed to be doing the same thing. It was clawing at the walls tearing them apart and at some points protruding to the outer part of the volcano. From the outside it looked like the volcano had erupted, not with lava though but with a huge spiraling hoard of dragons. Toothless had shot out from the top and taken a hard right turn to try to avoid any possible dangers that could shoot up behind him. Closely following was every dragon that could make it out shooting straight up in an enormous tubular formation consisting of Nadders, Nightmares, Smokebreaths, Firewyrms, and many other dragons. Still, Hiccup could hear the terrible sounds coming from seemingly each dragon flying desperately to get away.

Toothless took to hovering over the edge of the island looking at the top of the volcano. It had only been a few seconds from his escape and now some dragons were only trickling forth from what he though was certain death. He saw one lone Gronkle fly out of the top. The giant maw they had seen not even a minute ago burst up from the volcano enveloping the Gronkle and continued to rise up reveling the head, and continued to shoot up showing some claws and the enck of the giant monster.

"Where are you vermin? Where are you worms? Where are you meal?"

"Over here you overgrown dirteating, shitfilled, giant rat with wings."

"Oh come on, Toothless we could've gotten away."

"Well we still can, or we can free all these dragons."

"I..uh..urgh you have a point, no choice now anyway. Lets give it our best."

* * *

The giant dragon's body was now half exposed and tearing apart the top of the volcano. The more the beast came out the more the top of the mountain broke apart and crashed down onto the island. _He's stuck, that should make it a lot easier for us. But how do get rid of him. _

"I think it's best we use its power against it."

"How do we do that Woden?"

"Well it's a longshot but it can be a definite victory if it works."

"Ok how do we do it."

"Dragon's aren't fireproof on the inside."

"So we need to set his insides on fire?"

"Precisely."

"I think I have an idea then."

* * *

The trio started flying straight at the monster, right before coming into the range that they could get clawed at and knocked out of the sky Toothless shot a plasma ball into the side of the dragon. They pulled away and wound up far behind the dragon. They turned around immediately and sped towards the dragon's back pulling off the same tactic, this time winding up back at their initial position. Toothless continued to follow Hiccup's orders, flying in fast blasting any area they could on the dragon and flying away. The direction they fled in would continuously change so the trapped monster couldn't get a grasp of where they would go next.

"Annoying insects, what do you think you're doing to me? I will swat you down like the worthless shits you are. I will not stand for this."

"I don't think you'll stand at all, not with having your fat ass stuck in that volcano."

At this point the dragon had been shot twice in the left ribs, four times in the right ribs, once in the neck and even a few times under the jaw. The friends had managed to hit the back as well but way too many times to count. With the dragon's limited flexibility the back became a huge target. On the last flyby the friends once again found themselves behind the dragon.

"Enough of this worthless playing, I don't care if it costs me my royal scales I will burn you to ashes and you will fall to my power."

The dragon, with all the force it could muster started to build its toxic, flammable gas in its mouth. It dug its claws into the sides of the volcano holding it down. It forced itself to turn around and looked straight at the three that had been almost toying with it and opened its giant maw ready to unleash inferno. The three meanwhile had been flying towards it completely unafraid.

"Toothless now."

Before Corrupter could launch its attack it felt a terrible sting and an insane burn at the back of its mouth. The plasma ball from Toothless enflamed all the gas he had built up from the pit inside him. His whole inner body caught fire. And with so much gas, it quickly exploded. Bits and pieces of this monster rained down on the island and surrounding ocean.

"Wow..We really did it."

"Yes we did Master Hiccup."

"maybe we should rest before we head to wherever you wanted us to go Woden."

"If that is what you want Master."

"Oh thank you, I could use some rest after this stress."


	12. Chapter 12

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamwWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

Rather than immediately continue the journey Wodensfang had planned for the three to a location he just wouldn't tell them for some reason, they headed back to the island for a day or two to rest up after that incredible encounter. They spent nearly all of their time simply fishing for food or walking around. They wanted to be careful of not being too strenuous. Toothless had gotten a few nasty scratches from trying to escape out of the volcano and more than once the attacks from Corrupter had been way too close for comfort. Now they felt like they could start a second start on their journey.

* * *

On the first day of the journey most of the time spent flying was accompanied by conversation that was started by Wodensfang. One way or another the topic had never come up back on the island, even if they had been there for weeks just coexisting. Woden finally asked about what he was most curious.

"Master Hiccup"

"What is it Woden?"

"I don't recall ever asking exactly how it is that you and Toothless met."

"I think you're right. Do you really want to know though?"

"It isn't the best story, actually it sucks for Hiccup now that I think of it."

"I'm still very interested in knowing."

Hiccup explained how he was from the isle of Berk. He explained the fact that he never knew his mother and was never really told where she was. He talked about the terrible fourteen years he spent there and each agonizing beating he would receive from the other teens often. He recalled the words the village would use to mock and degrade him. The whole conversation left Hiccup feeling a little drained but tried to keep talking. He then went into the night he shot down the worst threat to their village. Toothless would chime in every now and again with what he was thinking while the two were meeting.

"Hey Toothless now that I think of it, why did you wait so long to actually talk? You would only ever growl at me or coo."

"I didn't need to talk. Dragons talking is kind of a rare thing, even amongst each other. Our roars can tell each other a lot so when I did talk it was just cause I was so happy to fly again."

"Woden, he isn't lying right?"

"No that's quite on point."

"Why wouldn't you trust me?"

"Sorry to interrupt but could you continue Master?"

"Oh right."

Hiccup continued, detailing the events of dragon training and his total displeasure, but slight happiness at being praised by the village. He ended the talk with the day and night he finally left.

* * *

The next day of flying, after a very short nights rest, went much better and faster than Woden expected. This time Hiccup had a question though.

"Ok Woden, now that we're heading over to wherever it is we're headed could you tell us where we're going?"

"Toothless veer to the right a bit more. I'm sorry Master but I would rather not talk about it until we get there if that's still ok."

"For the dragon that's all about respecting his master aren't you also the one being real fucking rude for once?"

"Toothless please, I have serious reasons for this."

"Fine, if you're so set on not telling us. How about you tell us about yourself then. You were always kinda shy about talking about yourself. I'd at least like to know what species you are."

"Master if I tell you what I am, I would need you to wait a bit too fully explain it. Truth be told, I was planning many areas to visit to provide master with all the tools he would need to be as his ancestors were."

"Ok I'm fine with that, now. Tell. Me. Your. Species."

"Very well master, I am a seadragonicus maximus. I am actually slightly related to the monster we encountered a few days ago."

"By Valhalla, you're not kidding are you? Please say you're not kidding."

"No Master I am not, actually I think that's the first area I wanted to visit up ahead. Toothless set down on the shore of that island on the horizon."

"You mean you're just gonna tell us you're related to the bastard back there and not even explain it to us. What the fuck Woden."

"Toothless please, even I'm a little hazy on the details and I know a place with many more answers than I could provide. For now lets get moving"

Before landing Hiccup wanted to give the island a quick look over to see if there was a nice place to land further into the island. Wodensfang was adamant on landind on the shore though.

"There's an easy route to remember if we land on the shore we saw first so I think it best to land there."

"Ok then Woden, this was your idea anyway."

The three walked from the shore slighty to the right and then into the forest. Wodensfang would continuously look around and mumble to himself about the path. Hiccup noted that the island, as far as what he's seen, had no dragons, or birds, or anything really. They had spent about ten minutes walking in a bit of a winding manner weaving through bushes and over boulders.

"There it is Master, straight ahead."

"That's…a door? In a tree? I don't understand."

"Open it, it shouldn't be locked if I remember correctly."

Hiccup opened the door on the side of a rotting tree with leaves looking much more like mud than any kind of greenery. He poked his head inside, Wodensfang looking down as well from atop Hiccup's head. Hiccup saw nothing, it was total darkness in what he assumed was a tunnel leading to unseen depths.


	13. Chapter 13

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamwWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

**Ok well sorry to spring this suddenly but due to personal schedule changes chapters may not come out everyday. I'll try to compensate by making them longer but we'll see how this goes. **

**Thanks for the continual support.**

* * *

"So Woden, what exactly is it that you want me to do now?"

"Go down Master, there is a ladder right below the door, maybe you didn't catch it. Oh, before we head down though, where is the crown?"

"Crown? Hiccup you have a crown?"

"Oh right, that thing. Woden was guarding it way back when we first met. I think its in one of the sidebags Toothless has. Do we need it?"

Hiccup rifled through the bag on Toothless' right side digging to find the crown. It was under a few journals and a quick look told him it was in as mediocre shape as ever.

"Lemme see the crown, whats its look like."

The crown was a bit too big too lay on Hiccup's head, it would more than likely just fall onto his shoulders if he try to wore it. It was a very dark metal, maybe bronze or copper as it had that weird brown or orange shade. It was more likely the color of rust from sitting in a cave for Woden knows how long. It had typical rises coming from the rims, Hiccup counted eight spikes. At what would be the front was a much larger spike than the others. It was enveloping a rather dull jewel. If the whole crown was cleaned and polished maybe it would shine brightly but for now it was a dull, unimpressive ovular amber.

"Ooh that looks nice, does this make Hiccup a king? Am I friends with a king?"

"No Toothless he is not a king.. not yet anyway" Woden muttered as quietly as he could as he was still unsure of what Hiccup could accomplish.  
"Alright so can we go down now, I'd like to do whatever it is we're doing, as fast as possible."

"Ok Master lets go, Toothless you're just too big to follow us so you'll have to wait out here."

"What? No, I want to go too, what if you need help?

"Trust me Toothless, there is nothing down here that can surprise us."

"Hiccup lemme go."

"Toothless I want to, really, but you just don't fit. It looks like an adult viking fits, but not a dragon your size. Don't you trust Woden?"

Toothless was perplexed about what to do. He didn't want to let Hiccup go down that abyss by himself, but he would have Wodensfang.

"Fine, I'll stay." Toothless said in the most begrudging manner he had ever spoke.

With that, Hiccup and Wodensfang began the long, dark, worrying climb down a ladder Hiccup was unsure of capable of holding even his weight.

* * *

Hiccup had to spend a few minutes climbing down. It felt like he had been climbing for a few days though. The terrifying thought that he had no idea how far down he had to climb. The fact that he would continuously stumble over the steps and nearly fall to his possible death. Hiccup would also often let out a little yelp whenever something would breeze down past him and scrape any exposed skin.

"Master, I know you're afraid of not being to see down this passage but I hope I can put at ease by saying you've been doing exceptionally well.

"That doesn't help at all Woden, I'm about to go crazy from how scary this is. Fuck! Something touched me again. I hate this, oh I hate this."

Hiccup slipped. For a second Hiccup let go of the ladder and he slowly felt back. The total darkness made it impossible for Hiccup to find the ladder once more and he slowly felt his body turn more and more horizontally. His feet started to rise into the air and his head fell down. Then as soon as he started falling he hit the ground, hard, and made a loud thud.

"Argh…fuck I almost died, die die die, I almost died Thor damn it."

"You're safe though Master Hiccup and look, this is only the start to another passage."

"Woden, this had better be worth it, I swear to Valhalla and above, if this was for nothing I will hurt a dragon for once."

"Oh believe me it is worth your time Master Hiccup. Now look ahead."

With a grunt of exasperation Hiccup stood up from what could have been his grave spot. He looked around him and saw glimpses of light coming from three areas. The light seemed to be coming off some torches and by the way it was restricted Hiccup assumed he now had to pick a tunnel to walk down.

"Tunnels, I don't want to go down any tunnels, I could've died climbing down a ladder and now I have to worry about a cave in. Woden I hate you."

"Master I wouldn't have brought you here if I was unsure of your abilities. You don't need to prove yourself just yet though, come follow the tunnel on the left and we'll reach exactly where we need to go."

"This already sucks and now I have to pass a test. This better best treasure in the world Woden."

* * *

Walking through the tunnel proved to be even harder than climbing down the ladder. Lit torches were close enough to see the light on the ground from the next one but on multiple occasions they would be blocked out by the winding of the tunnel itself. After walking past four torches Hiccup noted they were about 20 feet away from one to another. Approaching the fifth torch Hiccup was taken by surprise when Woden yelled.

"Master wait. From here on the original owner of the treasure started laying down traps."

"Seriously? How in Hel am I supposed to find these traps, or avoid getting killed?"

"Well for this one look along the roof of the tunnel. There will be a hole the size of a large man's hand. The old man should have stuck a lever in there to deactivate this first trap."

Hiccup now inched forward, taking extreme precautions to also look at the ground every few seconds, making sure it was clear. Maybe ten steps in Hiccup noticed the hole. He walked towards it now, still slightly slow and pulled the lever inside. There was a groan from beneath him and some shaking. At first he was terrified but when he stopped and Wodensfang gave him a reassuring nod he walked on at normal speed.

* * *

According to Wodensfang there would be another two traps ahead at equal distances of five and half torches, meaning between every fifth and sixth torches Hiccup would have to come to an absolute halt. The second trap was similar to the first in that a lever need to be pulled but was made more complicated by having the lever concealed. It would be revealed after Hiccup stepped on exactly the correct stone square in front of him. Arriving at a point in the tunnel he saw seven stone tiles on the ground.

"Ok Master, if I remember correctly you need to step on the square portraying the symbol of the strike class dragon."

"Ok then, lets take a look then."

"Oh and don't remove your foot until after you've pulled the lever, otherwise the trap still goes off."

"Well at least you told me ahead of time."

Looking at the dragons from left to right Hiccup noted there was the stoker symbol, then sharp, then fear. Continuing on he saw tidal, boulder, striker, and perplexingly another striker symbol.

"There's two striker symbols. Why are there two striker's? Woden why in Odin's fucking wrathful name are there two striker symbols?"

"Calm down Master, please. Let me take a look. Step on the left one."

"That's it? Just step on the left one? What if you're wrong?"

"Trust me Master, I'm certain of this."

"I have absolutely no other option, fine. Fine, I'll step on the left one."

With a look of apparent despair Hiccup stepped on the left striker sumbol. A hole appeared to his right on the wall of the tunnel revealing another lever. Hiccup pulled the lever without moving his lower half at all, just to be sure. As with the last trap, there was a loud clashing of earth beneath Hiccup. There was noticeable tremors and then they just stopped.

"Good going Master, now onto the final one.

"Yeah. Sure. Why not, this hasn't been terrifying enough as it is."

* * *

Wodensfang was explaining the final trap as a similar process to the last one. There would be a carving of a dragon on the wall that lead to where they were headed. Unlike the traps before he wouldn't need to pull a lever but he did need to step on a square.

"So I just need to look at the carving and step on the symbol that it belongs to."

"Correct Master Hiccup, oh it looks like we've reached the last trap by the way."

"Ok, how difficult can this be, I did study the Book of Dragons a lot back on Berk…let's just get this over with."

"I think that would be best. Now look at the carving and lets figure this out. If I remember correctly this is the legendary Boneknapper. Hmm it has what appears to be the cracking bone armor. That's the general body of a Boneknapper. Odd shapped head for a dragon and giant spiked tail end. Yep that's a Boneknapper. Did your book say what class this belonged to Master Hiccup?"

"The book didn't mention anything about the Boneknapper. There was a man who would go on about it but nobody believed it to be anything but a bad dream he had. That would make it a mystery class dragon I guess."

"We'll go with that then."

Hiccup stepped on the stone square that showed the mystery class symbol. This time rather than any shaking or groaning from the earth, the wall depicting the Boneknapper split down the middle in a vertical manner. The two parts retreated into the walls of the tunnel reavealing another wall. With some disappointment on his face Hiccup looked at Wodensfang. Wodensfang flew off from around his neck and shoulders and landed on the wall. It was just dark enough that Hiccup couldn't see but Wodensfang dragon eyes saw clear as day. There was a hole in the wall with a box embedded into the hole. He picked the box out and flew it into Hiccup's hands.

"Here it is Master, this belongs to you just as the crown does."

"So what was the purpose of bring the crown along?"

"Ah right, I had almost forgotten. If you could had the crown to me I'll show you now."

"So what do you mean this belongs to me?"

"I think it would be best to explain on the way to our next destination. More time to expand."

Hiccup had worn the crown around his neck for the time they were down in the tunnels. He handed it over to Wodensfang who flew back to the hole the box was in. There was a ring around the whole where Wodensfang inserted the crown and then pulled it out. The wall fell apart revealing a tunnel, Hiccup could see this time as more torches lit up. It was a stairwell that probably led out of there.

* * *

The stairwell would switch back and forth between steps and a flat walking path. It also turned even more than the tunnel they took to get down there. Hiccup had no idea how long they had been underground and it really worried him. They had landed on the island in the middle of the day and made it to the tree relatively quickly. Hiccup figured they had probably spent enough time down here so that it would be dark out when they got out. The passageway seemed to finally turn into a straight path because Hiccup could see light emanating in the distance. He ran towards it and jumped into the light, landing on the edge of a cliff. Looking down he could actually see Toothless. They were above him and to the right of where they went into the tree.

"Hey Toothless up here"

Toothless looked around, first in his immediate area then around the treetops. He took a few glances but spotted them at the top of the cliff. Hiccup slowly scaled down the cliff and about half way down looked at the lower ground. Toothless had bounded over to the foot of the cliff and waited for them.

"Hey, catch us so we can get down already."

"Ok but watch how you land."

Hiccup landed sitting on Toothless, he was falling backwards a little but caught the reins he usually held onto while flying.

"So how did it go, you guys have been gone a few hours."

"Were you worried?"

"No…just tell me what you went down there for. Is it in that box?"

"Indeed it is Toothless, now would be a good time to open it Master Hiccup."

Hiccup opens the box, the top is screwed onto the rest of it making it slightly like a chest in that fashion but it had a length much larger than his arm.

"It's a sword, and a really beautiful one wow."

* * *

"Alright all ye worthless mutts, hurry off the boats, its gotta be on this island. That damn old man had to 'ave hidden that legendary sword o' 'is on this island. Search the whole place, I want to get it by sundown."

"At your orders Chief Alvin."

"It will be mine."


	14. Chapter 14

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamwWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

**Sorry this one took a while to get out, I hope you can forgive me and bear with occasions like this if they happen in the future.**

* * *

"This has to be the island. I've been searching for this sword for years now, theres no other possible island he coulda hidden that damn sword on."

"Alvin, Sir, do you really want all the men to go inland to search for whatever it is we're searching for."

"Yes you imbecile, this whole damn search would take hours if I was the only one searching. How fucking moronic can you be. Will ya hurry it already? I'd like to start this search before the bloody sun sets."

"Um, Sir, do you think perhaps you could tell us what we've been searching for, I mean if …"

"Oh shut it right dere, just start the search. I've said it before an' I'll say it again, if you see it you'll know it."

"Aye Sir. Men lets start as always."

Alvin and his men started heading in the forest. Alvin and his men landed on the west of the island. They landed at a point that was mostly forest and a large cliff to their left. They started walking into the forest keeping an eye out for anything they could think of as unsual. The further in they walked the more they would branch out as well. Viking boats didn't need a lot of men to work so even if there wasn't a large amount of them but with the ground they could cover it didn't matter if they didn't know what they were searching for.

* * *

"Enemies."

"Enemies? What enemies Toothless. Woden you said nobody should know about this island right?"

"That's right Master, there should be absolutely nobody else here. Toothless is right though, even I can smell some foreign Vikings in the distance."

"Oh shit, who do we do then? Would they see us flying off?

"I think maybe we should head off back to the coast and fly away from there. The direction their odor comes from says they landed in a completely different part of the area Master."

"Ok then, lets go."

"Wait, get down Hiccup."

"Hey Savage, Chief ever tell ya what it even is we lookin for?"

"Not a word, it must be sometin amazin though, it makes Alvin absolutely insane whenever I even ask about it."

"Ooh it must a pretty great treasure then eh"

"Ya think it is? Alvin never been one ta act loony over some treasure don't ya think?"

"Got a point there Savage."

"How far have…"

"Hey Chief Alvin I found something over here."

Savage was interrupted by a tribe member far to his left that might have finally found what it was that they had spent years searching for.

"What is it? Where? Speak up again before I slit your throat."

"O'er Chief, left o' ya"

"What is it? What 'ave ya found, show me now."

"Straight ahead Chief, that weird tree up ahead. It's got sumin stickin outta it, see."

"Oh ya got some good eyes in that 'ead of yours. Men, git o'er 'ere now, I think our search is over now.

Alvin led his men to the same tree Hiccup had entered to get to the treasure. As Alvin got closer step by step he took notice of a lot of things that definitely told him what he sought after, what he yearned for, what he had devoted to searching for was not going to be where he thought it might be. Toothless had been happy to see Hiccup and Wodensfang in the distance, atop a cliff but still in a better place than down some gangly tree, and had bounded over to them. When he did this he left a lot of marks in the ground. There were scratches in the soil and deep claw marks that signaled something had been there. They three of them didn't think anybody else would be on the island so they had been caught by surprise and left the door open. Lastly, there were the slight imprints of Hiccup's boots, at a glance nobody could be sure what they were, but considering he had walked a few steps, in a straight patter, and towards the tree Alvin knew someone must have been here before him. All of this looked relatively fresh as well. The tracks could all still be seen with ease so whoever it was that got here first could not be far down the tree or far away from it either.

"Well Alvin is..."

The tribesman didn't get to utter another word. Alvin took his ragged and serrated blade and sliced his head clean off. Alvin was furious._ Who the fuck has been here. Who has taken my sword? I swear to Loki above I will find this thieving, conniving, shit eating rat and I will torture them. I'll make them beg for death, they'll beg to be released into the sweet embrace of a Valkyrie and they will not have it._

"Search the area, some thieving bastards made off with my sword. I want them brought back here alive, if they're barely breathing that makes it better. Git on now."

The men scattered, some tripping over their feet trying desperately to get up and going for fear of ending up like their comrade. Most of them went north or south thinking they would be much better directions than the eastward way that showed them a cliff about 20 feet away. Alvin kicked the body of the man he had just decapitated, a little more blood spurting out of the neck. There was a large pool of it around the shoulders. Alvin walked away from the tree a few steps and picked up the head. He grabbed it by the back of the neck with enough force to make some more blood spill out of it as well. He wiped his sword beard and sword of the head. A rustle was made by Hiccup who was having trouble watching this whole ordeal. Death was almost a daily occurrence back on Berk but he had never seen somebody be so disrespectful towards the dead, and he certainly never imagined somebody would toy with them.

"Are you the one that has me blade? Are you the worthless shit-pile that's stolen from my great-great grandfather's secret island? Are you the one I'm going to mangle to death next?"

Alvin had started approaching in Hiccup's direction, getting louder and louder with each question he knew was never to be answered. Each step Alvin took made a slight thump in the earth and a terribly violent tremor in Hiccup's gut. _Oh this is bad, this is terrible, and what the hell am I supposed to do here. That man's a completely coldblooded murderer, he's gotta be an Outcast as well, he can't be anything else, except Berserker, or Murderous, or maybe hysterics. Oh guess there are quite a few options actually, wait don't distract yourself._

"Toothless, Woden what are we supposed to do?"

"A, ahahaha, I've got ya, ya pathetic, wormy coward, die."

Hiccup shut his eyes and froze. He waited. Then after a few seconds he opened them.

_Alive? I'm alive, oh thank Odin I'm alive. Wait. Why am I alive?_

Hiccup looked back at Alvin who was actually standing feet away diagonally to the left of the tree door but not quite to where he was hiding.

"Mind's been playing tricks on me eh. Too bloodthirsty for my own good I suppose, they better hurry it up and bring me back someone's body or it'll be one of theirs I'll take this out on."

"Perhaps it would be best if we left now Master."

"Oi who the fuck are you kid, what's that dragon too?"

"I don't think we can retreat now Master."

"Chief, found the thief o'er 'ere."

"Take the sword out now Master, I think you'll need it."

"MEN, GIT BACK 'ERE NOW, KILL THE RAT AND HIS WORM.

Hiccup pulled out the sword as fast as he could. He marveled at how amazing it looked in his hand. It felt like it was made just for him. The balance was perfect, just about all the swords made back on Berk had a touch to them that made it easy for right handed Vikings to wield them. Hiccup, as a left handed Viking always felt slightly disadvantaged, but this sword with its long reach, curved up tip and hilt with a cover for some of his hand and wrist was perfect. It may be a little heavy for him but from Wodensfang's description of who it belonged to it should be a bit heavy for him. Most of Alvin's men had returned within seconds of him yelling out for them. They gathered behind and to the sides of Alvin. The one who had found them was blasted away by Toothless, he smashed into a tree but Toothless took an extra measure and rammed into him with full force. There was a shatter and a crunch and a large spurt of blood came out the right side of his body and his eyes went lazy. _He's dead, Toothless killed him, but…he would've killed me. Do I have to kill these others? Can I kill the others? Oh Thor grant me strength, please._

* * *

"RUSH 'EM, I WANT THE BOYS HEAD ON A PIKE AND THE DRAGON'S SKIN ON THE FLOOR O' MY ROOM."

Toothless whipped his head around and stared the men down. There were eight including Alvin and only Toothless and Hiccup could really fight, Hiccup barely if at all.

"Leave the boy to me, I'll make regret coming anywhere near me treasure."

"Don't worry Master, as long as you have that sword you should know what to do."

"Woden, I've never done actual swordplay against another human, I've barely done it with dragons."

"Instinct Master, it should come to you, I know it."

Alvin didn't give him another second and lunged at him thrusting his murderous blade at Hiccup with as much force as he could put into it. Hiccup was still a few feet away so with enough reaction time he struck away the sword. Alvin kicked him square in the chest and while Hiccup stumbled he brought down his sword like a grim reaper trying to claim a soul with their scythe. Hiccup lifted his sword to meet with the other and trembled from the impact. Sparks flew out when they clashed and slowly Hiccup's arms were bending. The second he could, Hiccup pushed his blade, simultaneously swinging it at Alvin and forcing him to step back and take off the pressure he was imposing.

Toothless had found himself being hit from all sides. He had initially leaped at the group and tried to pin one to the ground aiming to do so much more. Before he could proceed though, five others tackled him off their comrade and now stared him down. Toothless crouched low, wings protruding more than usual and baring his fangs with a threatening hissing sound coming out. One of the mean behind Toothless leaped into the air trying to land on him, he was swatted down to the ground with no hesitation, Toothless lifted one of his hind limbs and stomped on his chest. There was a morbid crunching sound and a desperate gasp escaping the man. Toothless dug his claws into his chest trying to make sure he wouldn't stand again and kept a locked view with the five in front of him. He palmed one of the men with each fore limb and sunk his teeth into another, forcing them all to the ground. He ripped more and more into the man's neck viciously tearing away chunks of flesh, tossing them away and continuing the process until he stopped moving. The men he had pinned had begun gasping and grabbing at the air around them, Toothless pushed his claws into them with more force, they had begun to sink into the ground now creating holes in the shape of the chests. They're arms fell to the ground beside them landing with a thud.

Hiccup had been fending off attacks from Alvin while Toothless had taken care of the other men. He wasn't having the greatest time though, he'd been slashed across the chest, not too deep but deep enough that stretching himself even a little too much caused great pain. He was getting a good feel for Alvin though. He liked to approach with a thrust and follow with a rising slash and quickly slammed his sword down just about every time. Hiccup had started dodging or swaying the onslaught after noticing the pattern on the eighth time or so Alvin tried it. Now he just needed to look for an opening, assuming Alvin even had one._ Come on Hiccup think, there has to be at least one point where I can try to attack for myself. Thrust. Wait. Slash. Thrust. Wait. Slash. Slam. Thrust. Wait. Slash. Odin I've got it._ Alvin slammed his sword down on Hiccup again, forcing him to avoid death by raising his sword but would receive another strong kick to the middle of the chest. _Ok he's starting. Thrust. Wait. Now. _Hiccup thrust his own sword straight into Alvin's shoulder. It sliced right in there tearing through flesh like fire burns through forest and pierced deep. Hiccup was precise enough and lucky enough that he struck bone in Alvin's shoulder. Alvin reeled back in shock and pain he never felt before.

"Argh, you fucking lil rat, how the fuck could you stab me, I'll 'ave your 'ead."

Toothless took two blows to the head and one to the area right behind his left wing. He stumbled a little, shook his head and looked back up for the four men that should still be attacking. One of them had been right in front of him and Toothless didn't waste a second. He pounced at him mouth agape. Toothless caught him by the arm missing the whole torso. He tried to escape but Toothless pulled the opposite direction and easily took him of his feet. He was lifted into the air and flung further into the woods, slamming his head into a tree. The limp body bounced off with a crash and landed on the ground. The other used this time to kick or punch Toothless on the side, behind his wings. That area, if damaged too much, might cause some flight problems. Toothless whipped away from them keeping his head in relatively the same place, putting his body behind him. The three were in a straight row in front of Toothless. He dug his claws into the ground. They tried to scatter but Toothless pushed himself forward and slammed into all of them. He carried them several feet before slamming them into the ground in a pile of flesh. He stood up and gather as much gas as he could in his mouth.

That deep wound in Alvin's shoulder showed its damage immediately. Alvin had switched to his left hand right away and was now slashing wildly at Hiccup desperately trying to eliminate what he considered a nuisance. Hiccup was definitely in the dominant position at this point. He had no problem parrying Alvin's terrible swings and just dodged a lot of what he threw out. Hiccup decided to make another attack hoping it would completely decide this bout. When Alvin threw a slash out coming from right to left he put himself totally off guard. Hiccup took that second of opportunity and thrust his blade again but this time into Alvin's upper leg. He stabbed straight in there slicing through flesh. This time he wasn't able to hit bone but the sword went straight through and Hiccup had Alvin pinned. Alvin couldn't move his lower body at all, he could move his arms though. Alvin swing the sword at Hiccup's head going for the neck most likely. At this time Wodensfang finally made an appearance. He leaped out from the back of Hiccup's shirt and dug his claws into Alvin's current sword arm. Alvin dropped his sword and used his other arm, even with pain that should paralyze other Vikings, he ripped Wodensfang off and chucked him at where his other men should be. Hiccup yanked his sword out quickly and at an angle to inflict even more damage. The sword tore out of Alvin's leg and Hiccup took a step back. Alvin was blown away right in front of Hiccup. Hiccup tried to follow the body but could only turn his head but could only see him crash into a tree. He saw two more men appear from behind the tree Alvin crashed into.

"Uh Toothless I really think we should leave now."

"Why? We're doing completely fine bashing these morons down."

"Ok maybe you are but I need to tend to this wound in my chest."

"You're hurt. Why are you hurt, ok let's go."

"Wodensfang where are you? Are you ok? We're leaving now, no time to waste."

"Ouch Master, I think I need help getting up."

Hiccup heard Wodensfang call out from his left. He took a few steps and found him in a bush. Hiccup scooped him up and ran over to Toothless. He mounted as fast as he could and got a good grip on the reins.

"Ok let's go, we really can't stay any longer."

Toothless pushed off from the ground with some twinge of pain but pushed through it. He hovered above the treetops for a second before heading off in the direction opposite from the arrival of the villainous group.

* * *

"Woden, who the fuck were they? You said nobody else knew about this island."

"Master I am terribly sorry, I offer you my life in exchange for forgiveness. I truly did not think there was another soul in the world who knew of the existence of this island. I apologize from the depths of my heart, please forgive me Master Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III."

"Oh it's ok Woden, you really sound like you didn't know. Let's just get as far away as we can. Let's look for some land to treat our wounds at."

"Yeah I think we should do that before anything else."

"Agreed. As for direction, once we land I believe you should take a good look at the sword and holster if you want to know where we head next."


	15. Chapter 15

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamwWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

Toothless flew for just a few hours before setting down on an extremely high rising stone island or pillar. It was very wide all around but had no dirt and more moss than grass, and not a single tree. They set down right in the center. Hiccup hopped off and set Wodensfang carefully down, Toothless got down and rolled a bit onto his side to get all the bags off.

"Toothless be a little more careful, all our supplies are in there." Hiccup pulled some bags over to him. He felt very weak with the amount of blood loss he's suffered. His whole front had a dark red almost black liquid covering him. The blood all over the front of his body made Hiccup worry even more, he was already a little dizzy, this just scared him. He needed to find something to help.

"Master, although it is rather painful I know of a way to stop the bleeding."

"I'm willing to try anything right now, lets hear it."

"With my fire, even if it isn't the greatest I can heat the Stormblade and we can use that to completely shut the wound you have, then wrap it afterwards. It's more of a terrible sting than anything else, I guarantee it Master. There's also a slight disinfectant property to fire."

"Ya know, I said anything but maybe lets change that to almost anything."

"I know it would work Master, Grimbeard would use the technique often after battle."

"Ok, if I do this, you have to explain absolutely everything. Understood?"

"I…understood Master."

* * *

Hiccup took the Stormblade from the scabbard and held it as still as possible in front of Wodensfang. The small dragon was right about not having a terrible strong flame but led Hiccup astray with how strong it actually was. The heat got to him a little, but if Wodensfang somehow knew this would work, he had to trust him. He was right about him having instincts with a sword after all, maybe Hiccup knew less about himself than this dragon did. When the hilt of the sword started to warm through the think leather Hiccup figured that should be enough and Wodensfang agreed. With extreme caution Hiccup did as Wodensfang told him. He slowly brought the flawless sword to his chest and touched part of the side of the blade to his chest. Hiccup felt like he couldn't breather, he gasped and trembled and nearly threw the sword. He had never been burned before and now he had just done it to himself, it stung so terribly and he never wanted to try that again.

"Woden are you completely sure this works? I almost passed out from how hot this thing is and how bad it hurts.

"I'd never seen a problem with it before Master, with precaution it will work fine."

Hiccup continued to do as Wodensfang recommended. The process took about an hour to finish. Continuously burning himself left Hiccup with next to no energy, he just wanted to lie down and rest for as long as he could. Wodensfang wouldn't let him though, if the burns weren't wrapped immediately Hiccup could easily fall to any disease. Although not as bad as burning himself, tightly wrapping the burn marks that spread diagonally across almost the entire distance of his chest hurt a lot. This didn't take as long, much under an hour, but the second Wodensfang said he was ok to relax Hiccup fell flat on his back and passed out.

"So Woden know anything to help the pain behind my wings? Those shitty humans hit me a lot there for some reason."

"I think we can just rest off whatever ails us Toothless."

"It's not even dark out, how am I supposed to just rest."

"Do you want to move Master Hiccup yourself? With the wound he has, we might be able to travel tomorrow, hopefully, and if not we'll have to be on high alert for a while. If Master wakes up tomorrow and thinks he's well enough to travel we need to be ready as well. I don't know who those men were but we'd do our best to avoid them Toothless. There may be more."

"Ah…well…alright then Woden, why didn't you just say that from the start."

* * *

Hiccup and the dragons slept straight through the hours leading to the night and didn't wake at all for the whole night. They woke up the next day initially feeling good. Toothless claimed the pain he had from the punches was gone and stretched as much as he could just to make sure. Wodensfang picked himself up and flew around a bit to see if he had any problems or if he really was better. Aside from his age there was nothing holding him back. Hiccup opened his eyes and felt great, but really cold. Sleeping without a shirt on was a bad idea, even if he was enveloped by Toothless and Wodensfang to a much lesser extent. He got up and twitched with a little pain. Although he could breathe a lot better than yesterday, moving quickly caused his wound to sting. It wasn't nearly as debilitating as before but it was an annoyance and very irritating with the bandages he was wrapped in.

"Feeling better Master?"

"How ya doing Hiccup?"

"Well, I don't think I'll die from this anymore, but moving too fast on my own may be bad for a while. Don't think I should have any trouble riding though, as long as we're stable in the air."

"Of course we'll be stable, I've always been great at flying, this'll be no trouble."

"Toothless, take this seriously."

"I am. Nothing to worry about, honestly."

"Well, if you're sure of it."

"Ok but wait, where are we going then?"

"The sword Master, as well as the scabbard, although Grimbeard never told me what he carved on them I know he carved something."

Hiccup took out the sword and examined it on each side. He saw no carvings on either side of the blade or the protective metal around the grip. Not even a scratch on the sword despite using it so roughly the day before.

"There's nothing there Woden."

"Are you sure Master? Not a bit of writing anywhere on the blade? That can't be."

"Check for yourself."

Wodensfang looked the sword over carefully not missing a centimeter. Just like Hiccup said, there was no writing on it at all.

"I suppose we just move on to the next location then."

"Alright then, so where we headed, feeling good, wanna fly."

"Ok then, so Woden, where we headed?"

"Very well then, let me think a bit… we head east, very far east."

"Cool, on the way there you can finally explain what the deal is with this sword. And that Grimbeard you keep mentioning. And you have to, remember that, no backing out."

"Understood, we should get a move on then, even flying we will take almost a week to reach where we're headed. I'll explain everything on the way there."

* * *

Grimbeard, known mainly as Grimbeard the Ghastly was and possibly still is the greatest Viking and pirate to have ever lived. Nowadays the term pirate is a very negative term synonymous with thief or murderer even, but back then it was almost an honor to be a pirate. A person unafraid of traveling the most dangerous oceans and doing it with a smile on their face. Grimbeard was an incredible individual, he had some of the best sword skills in all of the Barbaric Archipelago. he traveled all over the archipelago. He was without a doubt the greatest pirate Viking to have ever lived.

At one point in his life Grimbeard began his conquest, it was without a doubt his greatest accomplishment. Back then the tribes had next to no sense of diplomacy. Borders came down to things like whether you were visible in the hunting ground or not really. Raids came mostly from other tribes rather dragons, and nobody formed alliances. Grimbeard led his tribe to the top of the archipelago. Once he was of age he started going into other tribes. He would use his prowess with swords to rip through the best Vikings anyone had to offer and ultimately offer each chief the same deal, become part of his kingdom or die. He conquered his first village within a year of turning of age. After that anyone who thought he was mad joined him and hastened the process. He went from one tribe to the next pillaging and enslaving people those who dared fight against his might.

It was a matter of years barely when he was able to bring the whole of the archipelago beneath his rule. At times when other parts of the world tried to storm in and kill him or his citizens he would be the first one to greet them, swords in hand and war yell sounding above all others. For as cruel as the process was, Grimbeard actually turned out to be a great king. As long as you didn't make a fool of yourself in front of him he would probably be the most approachable persons you'd ever find. Eventually he found a wife. With a happy kingdom and a happy home he was at the top of the world. His first son was named Hiccup Horrendous Haddock II. Unfortunately for him though, he was born a runt, a hiccup, and as Viking tradition stated, he was to be cast out to the wild. Grimbeard had no problem with this but his wife was dead set on never abandoning their first child. For weeks they fought about the matter. The people became involved as well, why was it that they had to abandon their children if deemed unworthy but the chief was free to do as he pleased. They though he would bring down the wrath of the gods if he went on tradition, Grimbeard became more and more restless and unrelenting. He did not want to go against tradition, so one night while his wife was asleep he took his son. He traveled as far as he could for hours looking for someplace he would never be found. That's when he came across a dragon nest. He figured there was no way the child would even live through the night and left him there. Once he placed him in the nest Grimbeard simply returned home. Before he could get home though he noticed something flying over him. It was a dragon. A dragon flew right over him, then another, and then a group of them. More and more dragons flew over him. He couldn't help but feel restless and rushed back to his village. There wasn't a lot of snow at that time of year so he made the trip back a lot faster than his trip away. He ran over a hill that had a great view of his village and once reaching the top he got a real different view. His whole village was set ablaze. He rushed into the village looking for anybody, trying to see anybody, but there was no one anywhere. Either they all escaped with absolutely no warning or the worst happened. Grimbeard rushed to his house hoping maybe that it would miraculously be fine. The flames bore down on him from all sides making the mad dash about as deadly as many other situations he'd been in. When Grimbeard arrived at his house it was as though it didn't even exist. All the was left after he walked closer to it was support pillars from the inside and a large pile of ash. There was nothing else left. According to some important individuals Grimbeard heard two yells from possibly a few houses down. As much as he just wanted to give up and lay down in this inferno Grimbeard walked towards where he thought the yells came from. He would hear them again every few seconds until he came to the town's biggest bar. the bar was almost in as bad of a condition as his house was. He could see remnants of walls and somewhere from back he heard the yells again. Grimbeard was able to break through the the blazing walls and cast aside a lot of what got in his way while making his way to the back. He found two children hiding under the bar area. He picked up both children with one arm and started heading out. He didn't let go of the children until he was safely outside of the town. The kids were to stay put where they were while Grimbeard wanted to take his own son back. Grimbeard ran even faster than before, he couldn't bear the thought of losing absolutely everyone in one night, but once he got to the nest, there was nothing there. There was no Hiccup, no dragons and no trace of where he might be now.

Grimbeard would take the children to another village nearby to drop them off. When somebody took them in he left. That was actually the last anybody ever saw of him. The kingom he built up for years, the kingdom he maintained for years, it all came crashing down that night. It was left in turmoil. Everybody questioned what would happen now. Grimbeard had abandoned his only son so there was no legitimate heir. With no one to unite them, the kingdom broke apart. Leaders popped up in each tribe. Leaders created their own tribes, their own borders, and some even decided to start new traditions, some peaceful, some not. The children grew up with time and broke apart from the tribe they belonged to. One of the children, his name was Chucklehead, would take tribesman and go to start the tribe of the Hairy Hooligans. Chucklehead gave birth to two sons one of which would give birth to Stoick. That's where Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III comes in. The other child was named Thugheart. He would have a terrible falling out with his village, Chucklehead included. Thugheart like the way the more violent tribes had order, the strongest had power and with power came position. He was forced out of his village. From the few who had seen him before he left he said he would start his own tribe as well. He started the tribe known as the Outcasts. Aside from the Outcasts themselves, nobody knows if he has any descendants at all, and even among themselves they argue about it.

* * *

"So, I'm related to the greatest Viking pirate of all time?"

"Not just to him Master, but to the two most important people who helped shape who he was and how the current age came to be."

"Wait you never said who the first Hiccup was."

"The first Hiccup Horrendous Haddock, was Grimbeard's own father. Part of the reason he was so unbothered by abandoning his own hiccup of a son was because of the treatment he received for having a father who was a hiccup."

"Ok, you've told me about Grimbeard. And I guess the Stormblade is the weapon he always used, right?"

"Correct Master, the Stormblade is the weapon he used from the moment he turned of age to be a real Viking. With that at his side, he was never defeated. People said it was a blessed sword."

"Wow, people thought that highly of this sword? And him?"

"Sounds like you being a hiccup wasn't so bad huh Hiccup."

"Ok ok ok, so what is so special about being a Hiccup then?"

"Ah, right, well being a Hiccup in your line is a very interesting thing. Humans, very sadly, will never know of the greatness of being a Hiccup. Nowadays few dragons know it as well, but your name lives with dragons like me and select others."

* * *

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock is a name that brings a blessing and a curse. The children born with this name were never going to grow large to begin with. They were to be cast out to die, they never went down easily though. Although the First was cast out to die, dragons came across the child. Dragons and humans didn't have much, if any contact back then, so he was taken in. The First was the person who gathered all the information Vikings know about dragons today. While Vikings today each have a book or two in their village, the First wrote hundreds maybe thousand detailing everything he knew about them. He actually built the place we're headed to now. The First is actually the grandfather to Grimbeard the Ghastly, so there's a long distant relation between him and the current Hiccup.

The Second was son to Grimbeard the Ghastly. Again born a hiccup, he was abandoned and in an identical fashion to his predecessor, was also taken in by dragons. What he did though was much more than just gather knowledge. The attack on Grimbeard's village was just the beginning. There were some dreadful dragons in the world growing up. The dragon that picked up the second was a seadragonus giganticus maximus. They had a wonderful relationship while it lasted, like brothers. About the time the children saved by Grimbeard left their tribe to start their own the Second was dealing with problems in the dragon world. There was a split amongst them. Some wanted to come out of hiding and take land for themselves. The Second and his brother thought they should be content hidden away in areas they could never be found. The Second spent his life up to that point appeasing the aggressive faction of dragons but sadly it was all in vain. His brother learned that on one of the trips the Second took to human villages to warn them he was killed. The Second's brother blamed the humans and joined the aggressive faction of the dragons. That is when the raids around the archipelago started and they haven't stopped since.

* * *

"Now it's up to you Master. Although I said that the Second was murdered by the villages, there's no way that could have actually happened. The Second's brother was much too large to accompany him on his journey but always had some dragons take his place. There should be no way the Vikings of the past could best beasts they had no experience with. Something always sat wrong with me about that."

"So you're saying the Second wasn't killed by humans? What am I supposed to do about all of this? How am I supposed to live up to what you think I am?"

"Yeah, seriously Woden, Hiccup's just Hiccup. Some name doesn't mean anything. My name's toothless after all, but I got some of the best dragon teeth of all."

"First, you're wrong Toothless, completely. Second, Master with the way you handled that sword, I know you can live up to your predecessor's reputation. I will help you prove it."

"How, just how exactly are you gonna do that?"

"By having the First and Second help you. They left more behind than just legends."

"Are you serious? Can I really do whatever it is you think I can do?"

"Absolutely."

"You know what Woden, you haven't failed me yet. I think I can trust you again."

"Thank you Master Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III."

"This is gonna be so cool."


	16. Chapter 16

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamwWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

The dragon raids stopped in almost all areas of the archipelago weeks ago. Most tribes spent so much time fighting off dragon raids that once they started to slow down and eventually stop, not many people knew what to do with their time now. Tribes were smarter leaders had to spend a lot of time thinking but found other ways to make a living. The Hairy Hooligans didn't have anything particularly special going for them in a time like this. Gobber was probably the best weapon smith in the whole archipelago, so many tribes would come to Berk to buy weapons but a skill like that is useless if there's no need to buy weapons. At a time like this Berk as well as a few other tribes were lucky the decennial meeting of the archipelago Chiefs.

"Stoick, do ya really think it wise to go to that meeting at a time like this? The people need ya."

"I know this is a confusing time Spitelout, but going there might be for the best. The other chiefs might be having trouble too. We need to band together as a people to figure out where we go from 'ere."

"Stoick's right Spitelout, 'side, it's a good time to introduce the other Chief's to the new heir."

"AH that's another thing, I really think you're making a huge mistake here Stoick. Why'd ya pick the Hofferson girl over Snoutlout to be the next heir? He's your own nephew, he has a right to the throne, what were ya thinkin?"

"I was thinkin, Astrid did much better than the boy during the trainin, and even if that trainin aint needed now, she still shows more potential. If you want to continue fightin me on the matter ya can do it after I come back. Understand me Brother?"

"Oh I understand alright."

* * *

"Astrid dear, are you sure you have everthing you'll need? We can double check together. Don't want you forgettin anything."

"Mom, I'm sure I have everything. There should not be anything at all I'm forgetting, ok? Now can you please let me go? I'm supposed to meet Chief Stoick at the docks before midday."

"Astrid, look at it from out point of view. Yer mother and I are just worried about you. This is kinda a new thing to happen in the tribe. Somebody not related to the current Chief will one day become a Chief. This also the first time in a long while a Hofferson has been off Berk."

"Look, I know you're worried, I'm nervous too. That doesn't mean I can just not go though. Chief Stoick said that if I'm to be the future chief I need to start learning what it's like. This is a good experience and there's no way he'd let anything happen to me. Ok? Or do you not trust the Chief?"

"Now Astrid its just… well…"

"Dear, she's right. We trust ya Astrid, now go on, and don't wanna keep 'im waiting any longer".

The way Astrid was declared the new heir to was that way back when Stoick was ready to move on, somebody still needed to kill a dragon in the arena. At the time even though the Elder had been so sure that Hiccup was the best, although he wasn't, she had a bit more of a difficult time choosing a second candidate. What happened was a huge to surprise to everyone. Astrid was given a chance to kill a dragon, but so was Snoutlout. Snoutlout may not have been the smartest boy to have been born but his strength at least let him put up a good fight when he was confronted. Astrid was brilliant though, great at approaching and knocking out dragons by surprise with one hearty blow. The actual attempts by each of the teen went drastically different though.

* * *

Snoutlout was given the first shot, most likely becoming the next heir, and he stepped into the ring the same day they were chosen. He was to fight the newer of the Monstrous Nightmares that were captive. He was given a few minutes to prepare in which time everybody would exit the arena and crowd around the cage. Snoutlout picked up a double-sided and heavily studded two-handed hammer and placed a one-handed sword around his waist, he did not want to take any chances. The doors unlocked, blasted open and the Nightmare ran around looking for a quick way to escape but found none. He turned his attention to the boy standing in the middle of the arena hammer resting on the floor for now. Snoutlout swung the hammer onto his shoulder and rushed the dragon clinging to the wall. The Nightmare met him halfway and swung at him. The hammer clashed with the claw and slammed it away. The dragon turned to its side and smacked Snoutlout away. He flew nearly the whole distance of the arena and the hammer flew out of his hands. It landed back where Snoutlout initially started. He scrambled to pick it up but stopped short by a fireball from the Nightmare. He pulled out his sword and continued trying to put up a fight. He slashed at the dragon getting slight cuts when the dragon tried to claw the sword away. The dragon crawled up close to Snoutlout and when he brought the sword high above his head the Nightmare shot a fireball straight at him. Snoutlout was hit directly in the gut and was blasted away into the wall behind him. Spitelout was quick to toss the gate up and rush the dragon that shot his son. He picked up the hammer with ease and slammed it down onto the Nightmare's back with two eavy hits. He then knocked it away before other Vikings rushed in and locked it away. Snoutlout was rushed to the healer's hut for a checkup. Astrid didn't have any time to relax, she had to go next immediately.

Astrid walked into the arena with her battle-axe in hand. She wanted to be careful, there were going to be no tricks, and she wasn't quite as strong as Snoutlout in just physical strength. She placed her battle-axe on her back securely and picked up a large Morningstar and shield. She signaled her ready and the Nightmare was set loose. This one was just as aggressive as the first. It zipped around the arena for a few seconds and then directed all its attention on Astrid. It immediately set itself ablaze and dashed towards Astrid. She sidestepped just enough to make the dragon miss its straight charge and as it passed by it slammed the hammer down on its head. It stumbled a bit and Astrid slammed into it with her bodies force behind the shield. She backed up a step and repeated the action, this time the Nightmare toppled over and fell on its side. She closed in a step but was smacked away by the tail. It her side and she flew to a few feet in front of the Nightmare. It got up and shot a fireball at Astrid. She rolled over on the floor placing the shield on top of her then sat up and blocked the fireball. She peered over the shield and noticed the Morningstar was on the floor by its hind limb. It roared at her. She got up and backed up almost right against the wall. It set itself ablaze once more and jumped forward. It landed short by just under a foot and leaped at her again. She rolled out of the way and heard a huge thud as the Nightmare smashed jaw first into the stone. She tossed the shield aside wrapped her hands around the hilt of the axe and rushed at the barely conscious Nightmare. She jumped in the air towards her target. She ripped through the tip of the dragon's wing and sunk her axe into the Nightmare's axe. It roared in agony and she pushed her weapon further into the beast. Her feet landed on the dragon and she raised one foot and placed it on the axe's blunt bottom. The pushed it even further in. Her head was suddenly stricken by a very strong and spiked force. She dropped off the dragon, releasing her axe. The dragon turned towards her, its eyes were red, they were burning with pain and anger. It swiped at her, she was scratched heavily, mostly on her left arm, and was tossed into the middle of the arena. The dragon wobbled where it stood. It slowly turned to look at her as she struggled to stand. She had landed on the Morningstar she was using earlier. The spikes dug into her left leg and caused some serious cuts. She looked back at the Nightmare, it was gather gas in its mouth. She though she was done for, she closed her eyes and heard the blast of fire leave the dragon's mouth. A blaze flew past her and burned the wall behind her. The dragon dropped to the floor with a thud and she opened her eyes. The gates swung open and she fell to the floor. Astrid was also rushed to the healer's hut.

* * *

As Astrid exited her house and started making her way towards the docks to her disgruntlement she saw the other teens standing in the middle of the town square. Before she could get out of visibility the worst ones, the twins, turned their heads as if they had some way to tell she was there and waved her over. She wasn't rude, she was incredibly annoyed by them but she wouldn't ignore 'friends' she's had her whole life basically.

"Hey Astrid there you are, geez how much crap you got in that giant bag."

The bag was about half of Astrid's height and could contain enough of anything to maybe outweigh her.

"Hey guys, watcha doing here."

"Oh we wanted to wish you a good journey."

"Shut up that's just why you came Fishlegs. Now seriously me and Tuffnut need to know whats in the bag. You got some awesome prank supplies? I bet you do, I knew you were one of us."

Astrid punched Ruffnut in the gut, not too hard but just enough to get across a point.

"So hey babe, how you doing on this beautiful day, its not as beautiful as...oof."

Astrid punched Snoutlout in the gut as well, with much more force to try to finally dig in the fact that she did not care for him.

"Oh come on babe don't…"

She punched him square in the face this time and smiled a bit as he hit the ground.

"Ouch man, I think that's the knockdown for the day haha."

"Ok so I guess that's all for today? I'm heading to the docks."

"Does it have anything to do with Stoick? I saw him down there about an hour ago."

"An hour? Ugh I knew I shouldn't have spent so much time talking to my parents."

"You meeting with the chief? Why you meeting with the chief? What's going on?"

It was Tuffnut's turn to take a blow to the gut. He let out a slight grunt and rubbed his stomach.

"He's taking me to the decennial meeting, thinks I should start getting some experience with the other current and future chiefs."

"Wait why's he takin you? I'm the heir since Hiccup left."

" Well I dunno, why don't ya ask him."

"Ooh inviting me to take a walk, I li…"

Astrid kicked Snoutlout this time, he had barely started getting up but was now lying back on the ground, this time in a fetal position.

"Alright well I really think I should go. Fishlegs try to rein in the twins eh, good luck."

Astrid started jogging towards the docks. Snoutlout struggled to get up and tried his best to head in the same direction.

* * *

"Alright Stoick, how about meeting me halfway. Take the boy with ya, let him show you he can be Chief. What harm could that do? He deserves a chance at least, as family."

"If I do that, and he fails, will ya finally leave me be?"

"Absolutely, swear on Dad's grave."

"Alright then, if you try to take this back I swear you'll be joining dear ol dad. Ya hear?"

"Yeah yeah Stoick, I'll go get the boy."

"Hey Chief, sorry it took me so long." Astrid spoke with a slight shortness of breath.

"Ah nice to finally see ya Astrid, what took ya so long."

"Oh, you know, parents won't stop worrying."

"Ah right,very well then, ready to go? We really shouldn't…"

"Hey Stoick, I got the boy. Wasn't too far away actually. Found him immediately."

"Oh Thor. Once, just once you couldn't smile on me."

"What was that? Didn't quite hear ya from a foot away."

"Nothing, it was nothing. So you got the boy eh, where's his stuff? He aint got no bags?"

"Chief Stoick whats all that about Astrid going on this chief vacation and not me? I'm gonna be the next heir right?"

"Don't you worry may boy, of course you are."

"Well, we'll see after the trip. Go get some baggage for now, and be quick about it. I want to leave already, at this rate we'll be lucky to get there in the dead of night."

Spitelout and his son rushed off to their home to pack up supplies as fast as they could.

"This is goin to be a loooooong trip."


	17. Chapter 17

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamwWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

**Things got very hectic this week, I apologize profusely for taking so long to get this chapter. I hope it was worth the wait to all of you. Again, I apologize.**

* * *

Stoick set off with the two teens shortly after mid-day. There was a lot of ocean to cover and at the time they left Stoick thought they would be lucky to get there before it got dark. They had gotten out far enough that Berk was no longer anywhere in sight. Stoick had been steering the ship the whole time giving only slight orders to Astrid and Snoutlout. Every so often the mast of the ship would tilt port or starboard and more often than not Snoutlout's muscle actually made him very useful. Astrid was more interested and skilled in reading the maps and determining the direction they were headed or where they needed to head.

"Uncle Stoick, we've been sailing forever, are we close?"

"We barely left Berk an hour ago moron, have some patience."

"Hey, have a little respect for the future heir and…"

Astrid had walked over as soon as she heard the word repect. Snoutlout was leaning against the base of the mast and before he could finish his sentence Astrid grabbed his helmet by the left horn pulled his head away turned him so his left side faced her and slammed his face right into the mast. He bounced with a small crunch resounding and landed on the deck with a thud.

"Argh my nose, why, its always the face with you Astrid."

"You wanna finish what you were about to say Snotface?"

"Ugh no I'm fine."

"Children, will ya please pipe down already, Snoutlout ya know whats happened stop it with the attitude, Astrid try not to kill him anymore, tribesman are family."

"Alright Chief."

"Hey I'm here to prove myself and its exactly what I'll do."

"Boy, did ya hear a word o' what I said?"

"Yeah, of course Uncle Stoick."

"I'm serious boy, you're gonna learn on this trip why _Astrid_ is the next chief."

"But…"

"Enough, ya done nothin but complain since before we left and I'll not have ya ruin the image of Berk. Its in an unforeseen time like that that we're gonna need to talk with the other tribes. The dragon killing actually affected how we live in a good and bad way. Ya understand now?"

"Uh…I think so Sir, I'll do what I can."

"Same here Chief, you can count on me."

As Astrid finished talking the ship came to a sudden crashing halt. They had hit something dead on and the bow was lifted, tilting the rest of the boat and its passengers back a bit. It splashed back down into the water and part of something's head came over the edge. It was a dragon's head. They couldn't see enough of the head to completely identify the dragon but maybe they didn't need to. The head moved over to the portside of the ship to apparently get a close look at them. The Vikings also didn't lose eye contact with the beast. When it was right next to them it started to rise. It was a Scauldron. Its hugely long neck let it reach almost to the bottom of the sail and it was stared down at them. It approached its head towards Astrid who backed up a few steps out of fear. It stood still a bit and then darted at her. It didn't open its mouth to eat her, or spray her with boiling water that could melt here apart, it didn't even try to pick her up. Astrid shut her eyes close and when she opened them the Scauldron was sniffing her. It licked her face then looked at Snoutlout. It tried to approach him but when it did Snoutlout smacked it right on the snout. The Scauldron didn't like it, and smacked him back, though with the force of a dragon and it resulted in him falling on his back. Stoick almost let out a yell and was going to charge when the Scauldron started tipping the boat. Astrid threw herself towards the mast and Snoutlout sort of tried to crawl for it as well. Stoick took a death grip on the wheel and looked over at the Scauldron after losing eye contact out of surprise. The Scouldron had climbed aboard and was now sitting between the mast and the raised level where Stoick was steering from.

"Hey beasty, what in Odin's great name do ya think yer doing? Get off the ship, go on get off you stupid thing."

Stoick was approaching the dragon talking in a very angry tone, he was being careful not to yell though as he needed to make sure the teens were ok first. The Scauldron stood a little as though taken aback by the encroaching Viking. Stoick walked up right in front of it and started placing his hand on the dragon's chest and pushing slightly. It looked down at him and felt the small forces of his palms trying to move him. it backed up a bit.

"Hey kids, ya doing good? How ya holdin up o'er there?"

Astrid took a big breath, she had been taken completely by surprise.

"Yeah Chief. I think we're ok. Snoutlout answer him."

Snoutlout had his arms and legs tied around the tree as tightly as he could hang on. He let out a gasp.

"What? Oh yeah. No problem Uncle, no problem at all."

"Yeah right…" _And he wonders why I'm to be the next Chief, fucking moron sometimes._

* * *

The Vikings heard a roar from behind the dragon aboard their ship. They tried to peer over the dragon currently on board and into the sea from where they heard the roar. They saw another Scouldron head peeking out of the water. Then another smaller one popped up out of the water and next to the first one they saw.

"Oh no, aint no other damn beasts getting on this ship. Yer lot may not be attacking us no more but it don't mean we'll stop doing the same. Now get the fuck off before I cut yer wings off."

The Scauldron just looked at Stoick and blinked. They heard the roar again. The Scauldron leaped across the back landing completely in the water but also making a huge splash as it did. The Vikings were drenched, unhappy with what happened, and angry they weren't going to be able to do anything about it.

"Argh ya damn beasts."

"Stupid dragon, get back here and we'll skin you."

"We're not at war anymore but I really don't like this either, I need to change."

"I'll hel…"

Snoutlout landed on the floor arms gripping his gut after taking yet another blow from Astrid who was now heading down to one of the rooms in order to change.

"Ya never learn do ya boy?"

* * *

After the ordeal with the Scauldron, Stoick wanted nothing more than to get to the island they were to meet on and get some time to himself before having to talk to all the other Chiefs. The trip had barely started and he was already at wits end. Stoick was already extremely saddened he even needed to come on this trip. The weeks since Hiccup disappeared had been brutal on him. he had to accept the fact he was now alone and even worse he had to accept the fact that he was of no help to his son in his final moments. This trip brought all the feelings from the week long depression because normally this trip is for the Chief and their rightful heir. Hiccup had been on this trip before but was probably too young to remember it. Stoick liked to reminisce about the trip as of late. There was a bit of an incident and a huge headache with another Chief, but his son seemed so happy during that trip. This time though Stoick wasn't able to bring Hiccup. He did have people with him but it felt like he was the only one on the ship. They would sail for another few hours after being boarded and eventually see the destination in the distance. When they did manage to land the sun had started to set on the horizon. It was dusk.

"Hey Uncle, is that where we're headed?"

"Lemme take a look."

"Chief, not to be rude but how do you even know what island it is? There were no marks on the map and you didn't even really tell us what to look for either."

"Don't worry Astrid, I've made this trip more than once and believe me, it sticks with ya. Now let's get ready to hit land."

"You mean dock. Right?"

"Nope"

* * *

The ship would sail for another ten minutes then crash onto land. There was no sand, like any other archipelago shore, but instead nothing but rocks of all sizes for the foreseeable length. The shore was very large itself as well. There were reasonably large sized tents everywhere. Astrid counted 5 tents all about the same size, some slightly smaller or larger, and they were in front of one very large tent. The large tent was the size of about half a Great Hall and was probably going to be where all the Chief's and their heirs met. Apart from the stony shore there was a think forest starting right where the grass met the small sea of rocks. From where the trio landed they couldn't see too far into the forest.

"Stoick the Vast along with his successor has arrived." Stoick's voice boomed loud and possibly very far. The teens covered their ears feeling very surprised and annoyed at what their loud and large Chief had just yelled.

"Uh Stoick, did you have to yell like that? Who was supposed to hear it?

"Ah Stoick, its nice seeing you again."

"Has the buffoon arrived? Ooh look at that, it seems he has, loud as ever aren't ya Stoick."

"Eh, Berk? Ah the hammer one, what ya doing git 'ere so late boy?"

"Stoick huh, how ya do?"

"Stoick, great to see you're finally here."

"It is a nice sight to see all the chiefs again. Lemme introduce ya to the kids."

Stoick introduced the Chiefs in the order they had come out of their tents to greet him. First was Mogadon of the Meathead Tribe. He was very similar to Stoick in stature. They were the same height but Mogadon was a bit leaner. He didn't have the weight to throw around but his shoulders were just as wide. He had an eye patch over his left eye, it more than likely contributed to the peg leg on his left leg he had as well. Mogadon was the Chief of the Meatheads.

The seond person to be introduced was Big Boobied Bertha. She was a very imposing woman. She was at least a full head shorter than Mogadon or Stoick and not quite as broad shouldered as them either. It was also very obvious where her name came from, she had bosom the likes of which should be unmatched by any woman in any other tribe. Each breast must be at least the size of her head and she had dark blond hair several shades darker than Astrid's. the other defining feature of this woman would have to be her loud resounding voice. She was the Chief of the Bog Burglar pirate Viking tribe.

Norbert the Nutjob of the Hysteric tribe was the oldest Chief present this time around. He was noticibly smaller in every physical aspect. He was taller than Bertha but still shorter than the other male chiefs. He was also much thinner than the other chiefs, not to the level where he looked weak but he had probably seen more muscular days. His hair had some tints of black but was mostly a dark grey with strands of white visible in rare areas. He had a beard in many braids. It reached down to his wasit. His odd way of talking threw the teens off for a second.

The fourth person to greet the Berkians was Hefton. Hefton was a real mighty viking. He was bigger and all the other Chiefs and was more than likely the largest Viking to have ever lived. He towered over Stoick and scowled a lot. The glare wasn't something he did on purpose, his face was just a bit disfigured from fighting dragons so when one scratched him horribly on the face his eyes and mouth were stuck in the position. Hefton didn't get along with Stoick much, they would never see eye to eye on how to settle matters. From the way a Chief walks to the way a Chief commands, the two didn't get along. He had light blonde hair that flowed down covering his ears. It was very thick and looked dirty. He didn't have much of a beard in terms of length but it was also very thick. It was voluminous enough so that combined with his hair it completely covered his ears and the beard made it near impossible to see his mouth and part of nose. Considering he was so tall he was still only about as broad shouldered as Mogadon.

The last person introduced was a surprise to Stoick. The last person that greeted them was a boy only a few years older than the teens. Dagur was the son of Oswald the Agreeable, the person who was supposed to be the Chief of the Berserkers. For some reason his son was here. Dagur was slightly taller than Snoutlout, much leaner but had a strong sense of confidence to him. he had rather short hair as it was completely covered by the helmet he wore. He had no beard and stood barely at Bertha's height so he had to look up at all the other chiefs.

"Dagur? What are ye doing here? Where's your father Oswald?"

"Oh I guess it's only normal you don't know. He died. Terrible accident during a raid. Pierced right through the chest, I'm the Berserker Chief now. Everybody else seems surprised as well, such a pity. Oh well. it's kinda late to start today aint it? I'm going to my tent, see everyone tomorrow."

"He tell the rest o' ya about that?"

"He had actually withheld the information until now, he may not have wanted to bring it up multiple times."

"Shame really, Oswald was just about the only one o' ye men I thought was decent."

"Oh shut it Bertha, don't speak like that about Oswald."

"Oh e's right lil missy, I'll bash ya around ya talk like dat again."

"Boys right though, its late, going to my tent too."

Hefton left for his tent leaving the other three chiefs to talk.

"Well Stoick my boy, it may have been a rough way to do it, but it is starting to get dark for today. Let's start the talks tomorrow."

"I'd say it only makes sense, night Stoick, and kids."

"Well before I go too, who are the kids Stoick, ya know yer only to bring the successor right? Why'd you go and bring two? Neither of which is your scraggly little boy I might add."

"Bertha, we'll discuss it tomorrow. Come on you two, lets get to sleepin, long days ahead of us."

"It was nice meeting you Chief Bertha."

"Yeah, what she said."

"Oh my pleasure lass, pigboy ye'd do best to try respectin yer elders."

"Snoutlout, tent, now. Astrid come along."

* * *

The next day the chiefs all led their heirs to the entrance of the tent. Dagur had just gone in without waiting for anyone else. Hefton looked over all the kids who'd followed the other chiefs then also went in.

"Alright, the kids aren't to come in while the chiefs are talkin. Got that boys? Camicazi show 'em what a real Viking can do, show 'em what a woman can do."

"Alright mother."

"Thuggory, you used to get along with the vixen's girl, try to do that again."

"Understood."

"Ok ye two, yer gonna have to wait outside all day. Don't make much o' a difference where ya go, just make sure you can get back before nightfall. Astrid I trust you'll keep Snoutlout in line. Snoutlout, don't make much o' a fuss. Talk the others while yer at it too."

"Geez Uncle, I'm not a kid have some faith."

"Understood Chief."

Camicazi was Bertha's daughter. Many people had always said Camicazi was a spitting image for her mother when she was younger, down to every small, or big in this case, detail. Camicazi had long dirty blonde hair. Most of it was tied at the ends to form a sort of large braid going down her back. She was at least a head shorter than Astrid but took after her mother in physical appearance. She was thin waisted, very large bosomed and her shoulders stood a bit more in line with the boys than with a girls.

Thuggory was the son and heir to Chief Mogadon. He was a very large boy being almost a full sized Viking. He was at least a head taller than Snoutlout and had just as good of a physique if not better. He had a large muscle bound chest, cannon like arms, and tree trunk legs. He also had dirty blonde hair, his though was just long enough to fall down to cover his eyes and touch his ears. It wasn't any longer in the back and he had no hint of a beard either. He stood very upright showing as much respect as he could towards his father.

"Alright guess we're all stuck together for the day huh."

"Oh like hell I'm gon stick around a pair o' boys all day, what was yer name girly? Lets go off on our own, don't need help from these two to walk around the forest, hows about it?"

"Cami, I'd really like it if you would at least consider sticking around the camp this time, it may have been ten years ago but your hike didn't go well last time."

"Well my names Astrid, and I agree with Thuggory here, maybe we can just stick around camp. Get to know each other as future chiefs might be a good idea."

"What do you mean you agree with him? He's a little baby, whines all the time really."

"HEY, I've changed a lot since we saw each other last."

"Can everybody just decide what do, I don't wanna stand around and hear you two argue all day. Stoick might yell at me anyway if I walk off, lets just go sit down by the water or something."

"Astrid, you really gonna stick with the boys?"

"I don't see why not."

"Ugh, that's what happens when you're raised around boar brained men. Fine."

"Nice to see so friendly Cami."

"Oh shut it you."


	18. Chapter 18

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

**As a small extra apology i worked on this chapter for quite a bit today. I missed a day I should have been able to update on so here's something.**

* * *

The group of four teens spent just about the whole day talking. They talked about themselves to start with, their names, if there was anything special to them, and if they were named after anybody. Viking names often had a lot of meaning to them, as beliefs go, the more horrifying a Viking name was the more it was thought it would ward off all manner of otherworldly creature seeking to do them harm. Not dragons though, their names seemed to have no effect on dragons. Except for Snoutlout who's name partially came from his father and grandfather nobody had anything interesting about their name. Camicazi's only interest was whether there were any other girls that Astid talked to back on Berk and presumptuously how much better they were than the men and boys of the island. Snoutlout didn't add up much to any of the conversations other than a comment here and there that would earn him a smack, punch, kick, or limb twist from Astrid, or Camicazi, or both somethimes. The two girls formed a bit of a comradery in their equal dislike of Snoutlout, and talked with each other with more lengthy conversations where in the boys would really just sit there for minutes. Every so often Astrid would direct a question towards the other two about how their villages were run and the overall feel they got from how they were run.

Camicazi being from the Bog Burglars said she was totally content with the way the crew was run. She did have to expand on one point though. The Bog Burglars was a group of entirely female pirate Vikings. The weird part was how they managed to keep the tribe going despite having no men to create a new generation with. A good portion of the Bog Burglars were female runaways of all ages. Sometimes they picked up small children, male and female, that were left behind from dragon raids or parents passing on. The tribe would keep the girls with them but pass the boys off to other villages that were willing to take care of them. Most of the pickups were women just going off on their own looking for adventure. Either way they always fit right in and formed a bond with others. Sometimes in the usual manner of piratry the Bog Burglars took part in, one of the woman would end up carrying a child of a man she had seduced for the purpose of robbing. Cases like this though usually had no impact on the crew, an odd curse, or blessing if you want to look at it that way, was that any child born of the Bog Burglar family was born female. Thuggory looked unsurprised when this fact was brought up but the looks on Astrid's and Snoutlout's faced expressed a disbelief that would probably never be relieved no matter how many years they lived. The whole of the tribe lived off piratry, they weren't terrible people though. They mainly stole from camps of Outcasts or foreign ships having to pass through the archipelago. they would steal from other tribes though, Camicazi explained it as "oh well sometimes you just gotta put your dignity as a woman aside and rob 'em all."

Thuggory wasn't quite sure how to follow up on the question after Camicazi's tremendous lifestyle. It was visible on his bewildered face and audible with the stumbling of words he tried to get out. The Meathead's had a long history with the Hairy Hooligans, this being the name for the people of Berk, and it was very split on how his tribe was run. It was a very strict tribe. Order was an absolute thing that people needed to keep and orders from the Chief were not to be questioned, though there was rarely a time when anyone would question it anyway. Mogadon was, as described by Thuggory, a scary but understanding Chief. He liked to run things on a precise schedule and would get more than a little upset if people didn't follow through. A couple decades of living through this made the people feel as though it was natural though. The village would wake up early, go on with chores like making new weapons, repairing the ones that could be repaired, hauling in fish and placing them in storage or their Great Hall, and definitely making sure the conditions for the animals were up to par. Around midday people were allowed to do as they pleased and night watch was always in shifts agreed on by everyone for the next week or two. Thuggory felt that it was a very unorthodox way of running a savage Viking village but saw the clear results of doing this. The people were happy, dragons raid had always been dealt with easily and nobody complained. Snoutlout made a loud groan as if to say he would never enjoy living a life like that. Astrid had trouble imagining living the last 16 years of her life like that as well.

Between the two of them and their explanations and responding to any question Astrid had they had spent just about all day sitting on the stone beach talking about their village.

"Wow you two had real different lives."

"Oh you know, life of a Bog Burglar is different, but always exciting. Hiccup loved listening to the tales I had from going around with me mum."

"Yeah, he liked listening to me talk about the cycle everyone had to go through as well. That part about him was always weird. Kinda like he used our stories to think about his or something."

"Ooh yeah, the boy always had a real interested look. What happened to himanyway, odd not seeing him with Stoick at a meeting like this."

"Uh, I think we're supposed to go meet with our chiefs now actually. They said to be there before dark."

"Yeah, not like its anything big really anyway."

"Well I would like to hear about what happened to an old friend. Please tell us tomorrow okay."

"Yeah sure thing Thuggory, Snoutlout. Chief's tent. Now."

"Lighten up Astrid I'm going alright."

The Hooligans hurried off to the large tent where they were to wait outside for their chief.

"Ya know, he was a boy but he wasn't that bad."

"Does lil Cami miss a boy?"

"Oh shut your mouth Thuggory, 'nother comment like that and I'll tell them how you get around dragons."

"I told you, that was at least ten years ago. I've changed, took part in raids and everything."

"Oh sure, crybaby. Lets go, can't keep mum waiting."

* * *

Each of the chiefs hurriedly came out of the tent when they noticed the dimming light coming into the tent. Stoick had been the first to exit and was pleased to see his two kids already at the entrance.

"Ah kids, great timing, come along we can head back to our tent for a bit before coming to eat supper. We'll see all o' ya at supper."

Some of the chiefs, the ones who greeted him in a friendly manner, waved back and continued on to their own tents. Stoick was sitting in the tent they had set up the day prior.

"Chief Stoick, I need to ask you something."

"Ah yeah, what is it Astrid, did Camicazi do something? That girl never did know how to behave, oh ya best believi'll…"

"No she didn't do anything. Well sort of. She and Thuggory were curious about Hiccup and why we're here. I told her I would explain it but…"

"Ah is that so. Don't worry Astrid, I actually thought long and hard for days before coming on this trip. The other chiefs weren't quite agreed on the idea that I brought you two either. I'm explaining it all at supper. Nothing to worry about. I think we should actually head over now anyway."

The three Berkians walked over to the large tent in the encampment and when they walked inside the teens, Astrid really, noticed that everyone was standing in front of where they would probably sit. The table was round and made of wood. It was more than wide enough in diameter that all the Vikings there were able to sit comfortably apart from each other and there was still space left in one area of the table. Snoutlout was walking behind Stoick and when he figured out which would be his seat pulled out the chair and sat down. Stoick pulled him out of his chair, stood him up and hit him on the top of his head.

"There's an order to this boy. Chief's first. "

The chief's all sat down and looked around. The chiefs with successors present motioned with their hands and then they sat down.

"Well Stoick, you said you would explain what happened with Hiccup."

"Mogadon's right, talk, go."

"Ya know Stoick it was awful rude o' ya to keep us waitin so long, no get on with it."

"Bertha, I know it was weird but just listen now."

* * *

Stoick went over a lot of detals he thought were important to what happened to Hiccup. He explained how Hiccup wasn't the best Viking, or even a good Viking really. He hadn't grown very large like anyone before him. He started the important part of the story by saying he and Hiccup had simply agreed he would start dragon training and how they both thought it might do him some good. Stoick mentioned he had gone off on another search for the dragon's nest and had another failure. When he returned he was astounded to find out his son had been doing the best in dragon training, and by a wide margin. Stoick said he had never been prouder in his life and wanted to tell Hiccup he was fully supported. He went on to say that those had probably been the happiest days of his life in years and that he couldn't wait to see his son chosen for the honor. Just as he thought his son had been chosen, but that would be the last of him. Stoick told the other chiefs and their heirs that the night before Hiccup was to fight the dragon he disappeared, with next to no trace. It was believed that he had died when some tracks showing a possible fight between a small Viking and a dragon. He didn't go into what happened in the following days but did say that Astrid was going to be the next chief.

The dinner was eaten quietly for the most part. People expressed their condolensces throughout the time spent eating. Most chiefs expressed feelings of sympathy as they had met Hiccup a little over ten years ago at the last meeting.

* * *

The next day the chiefs once again were to spend the whole day dealing with the affairs thought to be important to the archipelago while the children stayed outside.

"So sorry to hear about the circumstances of Hiccup's death. I hope the weeks have been fine."

"Oh yeah no prob…"

Astrid punched Snoutlout right in the side of the gut and kicked his leg forward before letting him finish his statement. He found himself on the floor trying to console to pains the likes of which he'd never felt.

"Boys are just so terrible sometimes aren't they Astrid? What say we take a walk into the forest today, as a way to ease up from last night?"

"Yeah that sounds fine, you know anywhere special on the island?"

"The only other time we've visited the island is the last meeting but I'm sure Camicazi's adventurous spirit could find us something."

"Oh you say some good things some time Thugs, let's go. Coming Snotty?"

"Yeah, gimme a second." Snoutlout groaned out."

* * *

The four teens spent a few minutes walking around looking for anything beside a tree or bush. They had walked for maybe an hour and found a clearing, but there was nothing in it. Another hour later or so they came across what they thought was the back side of a cave but just turned out to be a disappointing boulder. Camicazi had grown really annoyed that there was nothing on the island. She moaned about not even being able to find so much as a bird's nest. They started walking back and came across the same clearing as before, or at least they thought it was the same. There was something on their right. It was a very large beast. It had a huge wingspan, at least 10 feet wide. It was also extremely tall, taller than any of the chiefs for sure and for sure much taller than any of them. Camicazi motioned for them to get down quickly. They dropped to the floor. Camicazi slowly walked forward staying as low to the ground as possible, actually walking almost on all fours. It was no use though, they barely moved a few steps toward it and it shot into the forest. They sprang up and started running towards it. Before they made it into even the middle of the field the beast shot out from near the top of the trees and flew straight over them, over the trees behind them and off into the distance. They had no idea what it was, they just knew it was big, fast, and dark as night.

"Well that's something special don't ya think. I found us a mysterious creature."

"Right Cami, let's just get back to camp for now."

"Whiny as ever aren't ya Thugs."

"I'm not going to start arguing with you, I'm just leaving. You two coming?"

"I'll go with ya man."

"I think it would be best to just head back. Another thing though. Maybe we just keep this to ourselves. The chiefs are probably already really busy with whatever it is their talking about."

"That sounds somewhat reasonable Astrid. Don't want to stress them out any more than they probably already are I suppose."

"Ok so can we just go back now? Like I just want to forget we even left the camp for this boring nature walk."

"Oh shut up stupid boy, doesn't surprise me a moron like you is sad with only seeing probably the only other living thing on the island. Idiot."

"Ok that's enough you two, you're both so feisty. Let's just head back."

"I'll get my idiot, you get yours Thuggory?"

"Might be the only way."

Thuggory lifted Camicazi into the air with no effort at all. Astird wouldn't be able to pick up Snoutlout so she just twisted his wrist until he agreed to come along. They walked back to the camp and got there just a few hours before the chiefs were to let out. To their surprise though they saw the chiefs coming out of the tent as they came back to the camp as well. Astrid dragged Snoutlout over to Stoick with a few questions in mind.

"Uh Chief, why are you out already?"

"Oh, talks are done. Things went real smooth this time around. We can actually head home tonight and sail through the night. With some luck we'll be back in Berk in the morning."

"Wow Uncle, I bet you had a hand in everything going so smoothly huh. Awesome."

"Can't take all the credit boy, well lets get packing. We are staying for supper though, sort of as a way to say goodbye for now."

"Ok then Chief."

The supper was a lot livelier than the night before. people were drinking and laughing and singing. Everyone had a smile on their face and stains on nearly every inch of their clothes. There was a much better atmosphere than before. you could tell these people had known each other for years, even outside of this decennial meeting. Once it got dark most chiefs figured it was time to head out, Stoick included. They said their goodbyes and got on the ship. Astrid was glad to have been able to come on this trip. It was a great experience she would think of often for a long time to come. Although Stoick was still convinced Astrid was going to be chief someday, he was sure he had seen at least a little growth from Snoutlout. The three sailed slowly through the night taking in the stars and more drifting than sailing back home.


	19. Chapter 19

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

"Hey Woden, we've been flying for a few days now. Are we getting any closer?"

"Oh yes Master. We are actually here already."

"What's that mean? There's nothing but mountains in front of us."

"We're a bit higher than we should be for you two to look for something you don't recognize. Toothless, we can go ahead and land."

"Well ok then."

The three friends had been flying for close to week after escaping from Alvin back on the island hiding Grimbeard the Ghastly's legendary sword. They had to make camp for a day immediately after that but had gotten back on track in a healthy enough state. The island was in the very far north of the archipelago. Berk was just about centered in the whole Viking land and they had now started headed to the Far East Mountains. Every so often Wodensfang would have Toothless correct south but was still being the usual secretive little dragon he was. Hiccup was very curious if they were going towards the giant, ancient volcano or the Great Gorge of the Thunderbolt of Thor. As far as he knew there was nothing else in the east aside from the Great Marshes, but they hadn't gone anywhere near there. They were starting to approach the Gorge when Wodensfang had told Toothless to land.

When they did land Hiccup tried looking around for anything special. He saw nothing but snow and ice for as far as he could see. Some dead trees or grass here and there as well. He looked to the mountain hoping maybe something there would be something for him to see. There was a gap ahead of them. Trying to get a look along the rest of the mountain range showed him this was the only spot where, as far as he could see, the mountains did not meet one another at the base. If there was nothing else that stood out at him it would have to be this.

"So we're going through that mountain pass?"

"Good eyes Master. We need to walk through there and follow the path."

"Why don't we just fly? It would be a lot easier for sure."

"The weather in these particular mountains is particularly rough Master. Only dragons who live here their whole lives can really fly. Theres more snow and hail the further we go in so it could get dangerous very quickly."

"You trying to say I'm a bad flier Woden? There's no way that's what you're saying right?"

"Toothless it's not that trust me. This is fact."

"How are you so sure Woden?"

"I've seen dragons much stronger than Toothless try to fly through and fail. It would be for the best if we just walked."

"Toothless. Woden hasn't been wrong on things like this. I say we walk."

"Ugh fine, if you really want to."

"Ok then, let's start walking."

Wodensfang nestled into Hiccup's shirt. He would normally ride wrapped around Hiccup's neck and hang off his shoulders but the cold was too much for the little one. They approached the pass and were about to walk in when they heard a group of roars, Hiccup had learned to distinguish two of them but the third had him stumped. He knew the first roar was a large male Gronkle, he'd heard it for over a decade back on Berk and with some help from Wodensfang was now able to tell a lot more about the dragon's relative size. The second he had heard a few times on the first island he ran away to. Wodensfang had helped him learn how to identify this one too, it was a Smothering Smokebreath, but it seemed sick or something. The parts to its roar were there, just muzzled. The third one had to be a large dragon, at least larger than Toothless.

"Saber Tooth Driver dragons."

"What kind of teeth?"

"They prefer living in extremely cold environments. They're very protective and very strong dragons that live in these mountains. If they roared that means they know we're here. They should appear shortly."

As if on cue, a pack of six large thorned, white and grey scaled, huge fang bearing dragons appeared from behind boulders and out of the snow. Most of them were very wide. They had a bigger build on their torso than Toothless, Toothless was about two feet wide on his front shoulders. Each of the Driver dragons must've been at least three feet wide with the supposed leader in front being almost four feet wide. They all had think short spikes protruding from their should slanting back and on their foreheads. They had smaller thorns along covering their legs and Hiccup stood on tiptoes and noticed they had some on their backs as well. The leader has a beautiful snowy white scalled Driver with grey slashes on the leftt side of his face and covering parts of each of his claws. The others were a mix of very light grey shading with white slashes or an odd shade of white that didn't gleam like the leader. They had rather short tails, each being maybe two to three feet at the longest. The leader's body seemed to be at least eight feet long, Toothless' body being almost seven feet, and the other dragons being about the same size as Toothless. Their tails bulged out the end and were cover in small think spikes as well giving it the look of a barbaric Morningstar. Hiccup couldn't tell how big their wingspan was but it looked much smaller than Toothless' while they had them tucked in. The weirdest part of any of their appearance was the leader. He had two large slashes on the right side of his face and his right eye was very cloudy. His left eye was a bright shade of blue, but the right eye had no real color, it was murky.

"Who dares encroach on this territory? Dragons not of these mountains are not allowed in, if you don't want to get ripped apart by the fangs of a Saber Tooth Driver dragon turn back now. We were entrusted to guard the lands and the dragons in them. Who goes there?"

"Woden what are we supposed to do? You didn't say anything about this."

"Tell them your name Master, your full name."

"Is that it?"

"It should do more than simply calm them down."

"Ok then."

Hiccup stepped down from Toothless' back and walked a few steps forward. Two of the Saber dragons growled at him and lifted their heads to show off their massive teeth. The teeth for these two were smaller than the others but still passed down below their jaw.

"I am Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. I need to pass through here. Please."

"Hiccup"

"Horrendous" 

"Haddock"

"III?"

Four of the Driver dragons spoke Hiccup's name, each with a sound of confusion.

"You can speak our language small Viking? And you say you're a Hiccup Horrendous Haddock? What proof of this claim do you have?"

"Proof? Woden what now?"

"Let me speak to them."

Woden poked his head out of Hiccup's shirt and took a look at the Driver dragons. He took a quick count then crawled to the top of Hiccup's head. He was a lot heavier than any helmet Hiccup had worn before but figured if it would stop the Driver dragon's from eating him he could put up with it. Wodensfang raised his head and started to speak.

"If you could take the Stormblade out while I talk to them please Master."

Hiccup walked to Toothless' side bags where the sword was supposed to be and started rummaging through. Wodensfang started explaining everything that had happened the last few weeks to the Driver dragons. He left out some bigger details that didn't really need attention and explained Hiccup's status back home. Hiccup had started moving to the other side of Toothless. Wodensfang explained that Hiccup was able to nearly master the Dragonese language with his help and was a descendent of somebody they should all know. He explained the correlation between the three Hiccup's and why he was certainly related to them. Wodensfang went on about how Hiccup had discovered the Stormblade and how only the descendants of Grimbeard the Ghastly would know where to get the sword. Admittedly he lied that Hiccup found the island but it wasn't much of a difference in the absolute fact that Hiccup was related to the great pirate Viking. As he finished talking Hiccup had started walking to the spot where he declared himself as a Hiccup. He had the box the Stormblade was always kept in. he opened it and gripped the marvelous blade. He placed the box on the floor and slashed in front of himself a few times then extended the blade forward and swayed it slightly to the right. His left hand, again, felt perfectly fitted for the sword.

The Driver dragon's all stared right at him. They scrutinized every detail of his appearance as if they were searching for any minute flaw to pounce on him for. When they noticed he was left handed, they sat down. When Hiccup finished the swordplay they lied down, except for their leader. The leader had at least stayed quiet the entire time. He also seemed to have calmed down to a normal level, he wasn't baring his teeth, and his body was in a more relaxed state.

"You're actually a Hiccup, my apologies. Your ancestor did a great deal for us, what can we do to help. Anything you wish of, we will try to aid you in."

"Wow. I thought my ancestors did a lot when Woden told me about the sword, but now I think they were a lot more amazing than any Viking ever."

"So Hiccup, what is it that brings way out here away from any tribes?

"I'm helping Hiccup realize his potential, and there's a certain building deep in the mountains that can help me do that. Surely you know what I mean."

"Ah, the archives. Very well, we will take you there ourselves."

"Yeah, thanks."

"Your name sure has a lot of power Hiccup, maybe we could just start going around and making our own tribe. I could be the king."

"I don't think so Toothless. So, what do we call you guys anyway?"

"We are the Saber Tooth Driver dragons. I am One-Eye. The origin is obvious. Your ancestor tasked us with guarding the mountains from unwelcome visitors. We are not the only dragons living here however. There are a few differecnt species that have, over time, changed to adapt. A group of Gronkles have changed to be able to feed off ice as well as the rocks and metals in the area. Another species, the Smothering Smokebreathes, have changed their method of concealment in an extraordinary way. Rather then breathing smoke, Smokebreathes in the area have, for years now, let out fine powdery snow. If they concentrate their power enough they can rarely spit out solid ice as well. There's another group of dragons besides us here as well. They aren't the friendliest bunch however, we may come across them at some point but if anything were to happen you can trust us with putting it down. Anything else you would like to know about Hiccup?"

"Well that's real interesting. Like really interesting, I had no idea dragons could develop to live in new environments so amazingly. We've been walking for a few hours now though but I haven't seen any other dragons. Where are they?"

"The Gronkles live high on the mountains. They live on high cliffs, flat mountain tops, or often burrow into the side of mountains. They don't come too far down and if they do its not very often. No reason for them to do so either. We watch over them just the same though."

"And the Smokebreathes? Or Icebreathes I guess?"

"They're a bit trickier. Even in an environment where our kind thrives, they are still difficult to track down. We know they're here though and they cause no trouble, so we help them."

"Well you seem like incredible dragons. I'd love to learn more about you."

"We are unworthy of your praise."

"Master, it's getting quite dark out."

"Hey One-Eye, think we can camp out tonight? We've been flying for a long time and some rest would be great."

"Very well Sir. Drivers, we rest here tonight. I'll take first watch. You may rest easy tonight Sir."


	20. Chapter 20

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

Hiccup woke up the next and sluggishly pull himself into a sitting position. He was still safely covered by Toothless' wing, Toothless always covered Hiccup when they camped out without any real shelter. Wodensfang was awoken by the movement of Hiccup as well, he always slept next to Hiccup, coiled up and lying next to him huddled for warmth. The nights were probably the only time that Wodensfang was not found on Hiccup's person. Hiccup stretched out his arms and let out a grunt. He stretched out his legs let out a yawn this time. Wodensfang spread his body to its full length and flapped his wings a few times. Being a much older dragon he had to bend every part of his body a few different ways to get himself going in the morning. He also had to make sure his fire breathing was working so he would build up a little gas and ignite it in his mouth. He'd spew out small flames while they were still covered by Toothless to warm themselves up. Hiccup finished waking his body up and tapped Toothless' side. Sometimes he would have to punch his lazy dragon to get him to wake up in the mornings but this time the taps were enough. Toothless opened his eyes and groaned. He lifted his wings off Hiccup and Wodensfang and stood up. The Driver dragons were all wide awake seemingly long before the trio had opened their eyes. They had slept at the base of a mountain with the three friends sleeping right next to the wall of ice and stone. Four of the driver dragons surrounded them, backs to them and on constant watch towards the snowy mountain base range surrounding them.

One-Eye and the last of the other Driver dragons came into sight from further on the path that they had started taking yesterday.

"Good to see you awake Hiccup, not be rude but we'd do our best to get a move on. The weather looks like it will be mighty rough today and possibly tomorrow. Depending on how it goes it should take another two and a half days to reach the archives."

"Sounds good One-Eye. So anything we need to watch for?"

"Nothing to worry yourself over Hiccup, we… Stormcutters, Drivers at the ready."

"Stormcutters?"

"Stormcutters, the bastards I said weren't in line with everyone else."

A bellowing roar rang through the range. It was a low, guttural roar. Hiccup had never heard a roar like this but from what he heard he could tell these were dragons much larger than the Driver dragons. Another roar blasted through the snow, this one was much more monstrous but it was also a layered roar from what Hiccup could hear. It was two dragon's roar, neither were as strong as the first but together seemed so. The roars echoed past them. Then they heard an enormous crash come from overhead.

"They're trying to crush us with an avalanche."

"Forward, move forward. Rush as far ahead as you can. Don't lag behind."

Hiccup jumped on Toothless' back picking up Wodensfang and bringing him in close to his gut. Toothless darted forward trying his all to run quickly while still dodging a small boulder every few steps. The Driver dragons were split in speed. Two of them were running on Toothless' left side while another three were in front of him running at different ranges with no real pattern. One-Eye was at the very front, he himself wasn't making much of an effort to dodge the boulders crashing down. Impressively, he would run right through some of them and destroy them into little pebbles. The Driver dragons with Toothless weren't big enough to do exactly as One-Eye did but would run through some of the smaller boulders. The three in the middle would run through all of the boulders together, if the one in front of the three didn't break one the others would more than likely break it themselves. Toothless felt like maybe he should try that but when he did decide that a boulder about the size of his head crashed down in front of him and he did his best to jump right over and take no part in the Driver's rough and tough method of running. The group ran like this for a few minutes before sliding to a halt. One-Eye let out a tremendous roar, almost as loud as the one he let out when they all first met. He roared into the mountains, he roared with ferocity. It was quiet for a few seconds and with a thunderous crash four extremely huge dragons landed in front of them.

"Stormy bastards, what do you think you're doing in the mountains? We sent you sorry snake fucks whimpering away weeks ago didn't we? What do you think you're doing now?"

"We aint all that happy with what happened then. We came round this time to have our way, aint no way we losing a second time baby dragons."

"Hey fur fuck, what do you mean baby dragons, I don't know about the Drivers but I know I can beat you into a fur coat for Hiccup here."

"What do you think you're doing talking to our leader like that fucking burnt worm."

"One-Eye whats the plan here? There's four giant them and 6 smaller you."

"Worry not Hiccup, this will take no effort on our behalf."

"Lets see ya talk like dat when I bury ya in the snow like the worm ya be."

Hiccup did not know what sort of plan One-Eye had in mind. The Driver dragons were tough, ferocious looking dragons, but these 'Stormcutters' as they were called were almost twice the size of One-Eye himself, and at least twice the size of Toothless in every aspect. They were each standing on their hind limbs and stood at least as tall as a two-story Viking home. they had extremele large wings, each wing spanning nearly both of Toothless' length and to boot they seemed to have claws midway through each of the top portion of their wings. They had large hirn looking things on their heads as well that gave them big foreheads. The had a large club like tails with small spines covering it completely. They were all predominantly a shade of brown with some black or grey sections on their bottom portion of their wings or body. These dragons were big and they were charging.

Hiccup hopped off Toothless and watched him charge back at the Stormcutters. He clashed with one in midjumped and was pushed to the ground. A Driver dragon came to aid him and headbutted the Stormcutter forcing him off and falling a few feet away. The leader of the Stormcutters had his body ripped into by one of the Driver dragons. He clawed at the Driver's sides and wings scratching him and drawing blood. The Stormcutter fell forward letting the Driver dragon get a good footing. One-Eye rushed at the two and leaped at the Stormcutter. He jumped into the wing of the Stormcutter and used his weight to pull him back and onto the ground. The other Driver had taken out his teeth from the flesh, lowered his head and rammed the Stormcutter straight in the gut to help One-Eye force him on his back. The other two Driver dragons had confronted the remaining Stormcutters. The Stormcutters were puffing their chests out and clawing at the smaller dragons. The Driver dragons were prowling, keeping their bodies low to the ground and wings tucked in tight. The Driver dragon on the left started walking forward. One of the Stormcutters leaped at him wing claws spead forward. He jumped backwards to get out of the way. The middle Driver dragon ran at the Stormcutter, his whole fron body was nearly flat on the ground after missing his catch. The Driver sank his teeth into the neck, he dug his back claws deep into the snow. He dug at the ground and found the soil he was looking for, he dug into that as well. He gripped the Stormcutter's horn with his front right claw and used the other to tear into the shoulder. The Driver dragon who had leaped backwards ran and leaped onto its back. He started clawing at the wings leaving bloody tears but not nearly ripping a whole straight through the wing. He also bit into its back and ran further along to claw at the Stormcutter's hind limbs. The other Stormcutter jumped in the air over his comrade and used his front two claws to grab the Driver. He flew towards a mountain and slammed him into it, then he flew up and dragged him through the rocky, ice cold wall. Toothless had been rolling around with the Driver and Stormcutter for the few minutes every other dragon was fighting. He had taken a few bruises and inflicted a few tears himself. The Driver dragon was a lot more worse for wear than he was, having a broken wing and gash across his face. The Stormcutter however was barely standing at this point. He had taken two plasma blasts square in the chest, one in the back and had wounds littering his side. His wings had bits missing at the tops with some drops of blood pouring out when he moved them even slightly away from his body. The Driver dragon was standing directly in front of the Stormcutter with Toothless off to the Driver's right stood on a boulder. The Stormcutter was making sure to try to keep track of both of them. The Stormcutter used his right wing and claw to try to slash at the Driver but he leaped back. Toothless bounded off the rock towards the Stormcutter. He fired a plasma blast the exploded into the Stormcutter's neck and was followed by Toothless' large maw of a mouth clamping down on the same spot. The Storm cutter roared out in pain. He grabbed Toothless' wing and used his own wing to dig into his back. Toothless let go in a shock and backed up a bit. The Stormcutter scrambled to his feet and started to fly off. Another Stormcutter followed wuickly behind him.

"If you dare try this in the future, know that I shall not hold back as much as I did today."

One-Eye roared after the Stormcutter. He looked to be in almost pristine condition except for the gash on his front right shoulder. The other Driver dragon with him had cuts all over his sides but wasn't bleeding much. The blood that did seem to cover his body was just incredibly smeared all over him.

After tearing apart the mountain wall with a Driver dragon the Stormcutter whipped in around in the air and launched him towards the ground. The Driver dragon hit the mountain wall breaking off large chunks and he crashed into the snow. Huge amounts of debris landed on him crushing one of his wings, the limbs on the left, and his neck was just about totally flattened. The other Driver dragons that had pinned the Stormcutter had torn him apart like he was a meal. They had sunk their fangs into his neck and ripped out large mouthfuls of scales and meat. They had ripped off one of the horns leaving a gaping hole in the side of the Stormcutter's head. His wings were ripped to shreds with almost nothing but the bones left. His tail was nearly ripped off, hanging by threads of flesh. He had deep gashes filled with snow and flowing with blood all over his back. The other Stormcutter had flown off barely keeping his comrades in sight.

The Driver dragons gathered where they had started before the attack. They looked around at each other as well as Toothless. Hiccup was coming down from the cliff he had climbed up. He walked back to Toothless' side counting the Driver dragons as he got there.

"Hiccup, pleasure to see you untouched. If we may take a few hours to bury our brother…"

"Please, go ahead. The journey can wait, take the time you need."

"We fought off the worthless monsters that attacked us. We forced them to retreat in a humiliating condition. It was not without ease though. We bury a brother today."

The Driver dragons walked to wear their sixth member was crushed. The smashed the boulders covering him. They dug a hole near his body and slowly placed him in it. They covered it with snow and soil and began to roar one by one. They each held their roar until they had all let out a mournful cry. They spent most of their time talking about his life, from what Hiccup could hear. When the sun signaled that it was mid day and Hiccup had been laying down on Toothless, One-Eye walked over to them.

"Hiccup, we think it would be best to get moving along now. We have said all we need to say to our brother and we are ready to accompany you to the archives."

"Are you sure we can go now? Do the others agree?"

"They are in accord. Driver dragons are a species of strength. We have known that for centuries, a death like our brother's is one to be talked of with pride. We have our word to keep as well in aiding you, we can start the journey once more."

"Well if you're sure."

"Well then, let's get going."

The group would spend the rest of the day walking along the path. It was at much slower pace compared to yesterday but due to what had just happened Hiccup understood completely. Even Toothless was a lot quieter than normal, a sudden brawl like that seemed to really take the energy out of him. The trek took them two and a half days. The simultaneous healing of wounds and advancement of distance led them during that time to the place Hiccup had been looking forward to ever since he knew where they were headed.

It was a large wooden cabin in the middle of a snowy field clearing. There were mountains surrounding the whole field at a perfect distance of about thirty feet. The cabin was simple in design but was very big. The door was almost a third of the height of the entire wall and Hiccup rushed towards it..


	21. Chapter 21

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

Hiccup was ecstatic to get inside. These "Archives" Wodensfang and One-Eye were talking about must have been a sight to behold, there were created by his ancestors after all and if what Wodensfang was true he would be here reading for a very long time. The wooden building came into view immediately as they had walked into the snowy field clearing. Hiccup restrained himself a bit though before going in. Taking a look along the sides showed this was an extraordinarily large building if all that was inside it were books. It must have stretched out at least fifty feet, the front and back walls seemed to be the same length and they probably measured almost forty feet. It also seemed to be much more than just the ground floor. Toothless came nowhere near the edge of the roof standing, One-Eye was substantially shorter as well. The building was probably three stories tall. That was going to be a lot of reading for Hiccup to do if he wanted to get through all of it. The numbers were just basic speculation Hiccup had at a glance but even if he was a bit over, this was still kind of an intimidating building. Hiccup returned to the front door, pushed the door open and took a step inside. It was completely dark.

"I can't see anything. Wodensfang, you know if there are any torches in here?"

"There should be torches all around the walls Master. There are some braziers spread throughout the floors as well. We'd best be careful lighting them though, these books are tremendously old and could very easily catch fire."

"Sorry to say Hiccup, Driver dragons don't breathe fire. A task like this is something we can help you with, our apologies.

"Don't worry about it One-Eye, Toothless, you got good vision in the dark right? Woden you should too right?"

"Understood Master. Toothless, lets start, I'll light the torches on the walls and you can go around starting up the braziers."

"Yeah ok, got it."

Wodensfang flew from torch to torch on the wall spurting out small flames just large enough to get a good visible light going. Considering his size, he didn't have to really worry about shooting out a giant flame. Toothless scattered about bumping into shelves here and there trying to navigate his way through the archives. They'd managed to get more than enough light on the ground floor without getting to every torch and brazier. Looking around, Hiccup noticed he was almost as tall as the bookshelfs scattered on the floor. If he really tried he would be able to extend himself and barely see over the tops of the shelves. There were countless shelves everywhere, they extended from the entrance to the back and side walls, it was almost like a maze in here. It was organized pretty standardly from what he could see. All the shelves had breaks in between that easily allowed a even the largest of Viking to navigate their way through. Hiccup took a look up and saw that there was a wooden floor above him, he could only imagine how many more books were up there.

"Why don't we take our time lighting the whole place up? You two up to it?

"Certainly Master."

"Did you really ask me if I can go set things on fire? I'd love it."

"Don't go too crazy buddy, we…well I need to read these books. I really want to as well."

The second floor was nearly identical to the first except the shelves were placed in way that they faced what were the front and back walls on the bottom floor. After lighting this floor up Hiccup looked around to see if there was a way to get to a possible third floor. He'd found a staircase on the floor's wall opposite from where he went up. The third floor seemed to be more of an attic than anything else. Well it also appeared to be somebody's living quarters, there was a bed, a table with a single chair and several chests. The chests were all empty, the bed did have some nice thick covers and though it was a little tough to notice, there were windows along two walls opposite each other.

"I think we can easily live here for a loooooong time. So what say we settle into a real home for once, Woden? Toothless?"

"Sure, I've been looking forward to sleeping in something you call a house."

"I agree wholeheartedly Master, this will make a fine living space."

One-Eye had been the only of the Drivers to follow them through the whole archives. The other waited outside as they weren't interested in this much.

"Well then Hiccup, you seem ready for your time here. I will send a brother to check on you every other day or so. I hope we can be of aid while you stay here."

"Thanks a lot One-Eye. Alright guys, it's still early enough in the day, I'm gonna start reading."

* * *

Hiccup started reading book after book after book. Minutes and hours and whole days he would do nothing but ready. Sometimes Toothless would worry whether he ate or not but that was the extent of their worries. Hiccup was happier than he'd ever been as well, the amount of things he didn't know was inspiring to him, he had never felt like he belonged on Berk. He was smarter and unappreciated, he was quick-witted and pushed around, he was just a hiccup, unwanted and as far as he knew unmissed. Weeks started to roll by and Hiccup was almost racing through all the books. If he was bored with the first floor he went to the second, if he was bored with the second floor he went to the first.

The first floor was mainly filled with books relating to human actions. It had books on languages, artistries, and many different skills. Through these books he learned about methods of forging metals nobody else in the world knew. He learned that with the help of dragon fire he could turn normally unmalleable metals into the most beautiful of swords. With the help of the Driver dragons that would come by he was able to mine for materials every few days and try out methods he had read about. The methods were easy to get going but required intense focus as it relied hugely on timing.

The second floor of the library was entirely about dragons. If there was a dragon in the world, it probably had a book in this library, an entire book. There was even a book on the Night Fury, Hiccup was caught off guard by this book more than any other. The people of Berk had never even seen a Night Fury before yet his ancestor had managed to document enough information to fill an entire book. Reading as many books as he could Hiccup learned about every single aspect he could about as many dragons as he could. He learned about the poisonous or venomous properties that dragons are capable of. He learned how much of their toxins it would take to take down a Viking of any size. He learned about dragon anatomy, it involved all different parts of a dragon. It was truly a wonder how dragons were capable of flying, their bone structure as well as organs they had surprised even Toothless. It must all be second nature to an extent that they don't even know what goes on in their bodies. Hiccup was teaching things to dragons about themselves that even they didn't know. The books also had extensive lists on many dragon weaknesses. Many of these things didn't come across as weaknesses though. Some things on the list were even just an action or item that irritated them. Night Furies for example were extremely annoyed when their right tailfin was poked on the third rib going away from their body. The book didn't say why this was so but it made no difference to Hiccup when he tried it out on Toothless and he snapped every time.

Five and a half months into Hiccup's stay at the Archives Hiccup found the most intriguing and definitely the most entertaining book series he thought he would ever read. There was almost an entire row of books dedicated to teaching how to mimic dragon cries. Often times when Hiccup was practicing his forging methods he would have Wodensfang critique him on his dragon cries. He would try maybe two or three tries each day he was working at the makeshift forge outside the Archives and steadily got better and replicating many of the cries he was able to identify. The first cry he learned to recreate was the Saber Tooth Driver dragon's roar and why not, he wanted to have some fun with other dragons besides Toothless, besides Toothless was starting to lose his patience with his tail being poked.

Every day Hiccup spent here was like a dream. He couldn't have been happier at the moment. Nearly six months with no worries and learning several new things every day was paradise to him. At the start of the sixth month though he heard a loud bellowing roar. The roar of a large and likely angry Stormcutter.


	22. Chapter 22

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

**Noticed a large mistake as soon as I uploaded the chapter, sorry about that. Everything should be correct this time though, hope you enjoy this.**

**I also want to thank everyone from the depths of my heart. I haven't done this before but I think I will start now. Thank you all for 40 followers.**

* * *

"Hey Driver dragon."

"What is it Hiccup? Do you need aid?"

"Not really, I just wanted to know where you've been getting the meat I've been eating the whole time. I always ate it fine and there was nothing wrong with it. Mind telling me?"

"No problem Hiccup, there's a few other clearings throughout the mountain range. Many different animals make their homes there. We usually bring you the ram or goat meat. Sometimes we find a stray sheep."

"Sheep?"

"Yes, the four legged animal with the all the fluff."

"Uh…bring me a few sheep. Alive. They need to be alive this time."

"Bringing them is no problem but finding them may prove difficult. As I said, they are not the most common of meals around here."

"I said alive, I need some sheep alive."

"Very well, I will inform my brothers of your needs and we will bring them as soon as nature allows it."

"Thanks."

The Driver dragon started walking away from the cabin. The further he got the more speed he picked up as well until he was just out of sight due to the constant snowfall.

"Hey Hiccup, what're the sheep for? Wanna get the meat yourself? Its trickier…"

"No I don't want to kill a sheep myself."

"Then what?"

"I'm curious as well Master."

"I've been wearing these tattered clothes for months. Even the spare clothes I brought are all torn apart. There's holes and burn marks everywhere. There was a book around here somewhere that had simple sewing methods. I could even put some scales on it as extra defense. Not like armor, but padding ya know."

"What's sewing? And why do you need our scales? I don't get any of this."

"Sewing is what humans do to make clothes Toothless."

"Ok but what'd he say about our scales? I don't understand that either."

"Forget the scales, forget 'em ok. I just need the sheep. Might as well get back to reading. Actually I'm gonna look for that sewing book, it should be in the back section."

Hiccup went back to reading as usual. Finding the book that would help Hiccup make new clothes proved to be more difficult than he initially though it would be. He spent a full two days before finally coming across it on the opposite wall he thought it was. As soon as he picked it up though he dropped it to the floor. A loud roar almost shook all the shelves in the Archives. It was a familiar roar, it was the loud threatening roar of a Stormcutter. Similar to the first time he heard this declaration of war after the first roar ended a second roar that was formed of two roars came resounding throughout the area. It blasted through the whole building, echoing over and over for a few seconds. Toothless ran to the door knocking over shelves as he jumped from one to the other trying to get there faster. Hiccup followed behind as fast as he could but had to navigate his way through the standing and fallen shelves. Toothless burst through the door gliding away from the entrance and landing in the soft snow. He let out his own shrieking roar to establish that he would fight them all off by himself if that's what it came to. There were three Stormcutters were standing at a further distance than Toothless had leaped out, and he had bounded out of the building at least twelve feet. They were standing almost twice the distance away from the building.

"Black one, where is the leader of the Driver tribe?"

"What do you want him for? Want him to rip you up again?"

"Just tell us where he is, we got to talk with him."

"Tell me what you want with him first."

"Fine, we…"

"STORMCUTTERS. What do you think you're doing back here? I warned you, should you return and present yourself before us I would not go easy on year. I'm ripping out your throats one by one."

"Hey, fucking wait a second. Up, fly fly."

"Shitty cowards, get down here."

"We're not here to fight you rough moron, listen damn it."

"Then what do you think you're doing back here? Leave. Now."

"We're willing to cooperate with you now."

"Why the sudden change of heart?"

"It's not sudden. There's a reason we haven't attack for months now."

"Finally learned you can't survive on your own?"

"Yes, we've been here for years, but it simply isn't possible now."

"I've been saying that since you arrived, so why should we help you now?"

"We'll reveal our nest."

"Don't even try to lie. If you take us somewhere stupid, I'll kill you all."

"I'm not lying. We will take you straight to our nest. Anytime you want."

"What about your leader? Is he aware of this?"

"He's the one who told us to do this. He can't even come himself."

"You will take us to your nest."

"Correct."

"We go now."

Hiccup had been standing inside the Archives during the encounter going on between One-Eye and the Stormcutter. He couldn't help but jump out when he heard they were going to the Stormcutter nest.

"I wanna go."

"Hiccup? I know we offered our services…"

"You did, oh yes you did. And I want to visit the Stormcutter nest."

"It's alright, our leader said to try to get you there by any means needed."

"Well yes but…"

"No buts, so does me being a Hiccup mean so little now? After the whole thing you did when we first met?"

"Very well then. Stormcutters, we leave now."

"Hey by the way One-Eye."

"Yes Hiccup?"

"So uh…I just kinda wanna know where you're at with the sheep."

"Ah right, we've collected 8. We're almost done collecting them."

"Woah that is more than enough. That's way more than I needed."

"Ah is that so? Well when we return we'll deliver them immediately."

"Alright then."

The Stormcutters began leading the way out of the clearing. They started headed towards the same path that Hiccup had taken to get here in the first place. About ten minutes on the path though the Stormcutters told them they would need to fly up over fifty feet to get to the path that leads to their nest. Toothless had a bit of trouble flying up and would every so often cling onto the side of the mountain to recuperate himself before continuing on. Once they had reached the area that started the path Hiccup noted it looked no different than the other path, covered almost completely in snow, surrounded by mountains, and difficult to look ahead. They continued walking along this path for another twenty minutes or so when they got to their destination. It was a large clearing bigger than the one the Archives were in. there were Stormcutters laying everywhere. The clearing was littered with giant boulder almost as big a normal looking Stormcutter. The group was led to the other side of the clearing while being ogled by the inhabitants. They reached a very wide and slightly shallow pond. It was a trove of eggs, Hiccup didn't have time to count them all.

"Very well then. If you start to comply with us, there should be no problem helping you continue to thrive here. But be warned that if you turn against us, I will be the first to come after you."

The threatening tone in One-Eye's low guttural whispering left no room for second thoughts.

"Understood."

"We leave for now. Hiccup if you think the eight sheep is enough we'll bet them to you before nightfall. Drivers. Lets go."

The journey back proved to be more dangerous, namely for Toothless, but was still made with relatively no trouble. Hiccup and Toothlees were escorted back to the Archives by a Driver dragon. They made it back in a reasonable time and it wasn't even close to getting dark out. Hiccup decided to spend some time lying around with his two dragons for once rather than reading a book. It felt nice. It felt familiar, almost nostalgic. In the nearly six months he'd been here it had been reading and reading and practice and more reading. He hadn't really taken any time to lay around and the time zoomed by, hours became minutes to him and the weeks felt like a few days. Lying with his dragons, Hiccup was simply happy. He felt at peace like never before and he hoped the feeling would last forever. Hiccup opened his eyes. He had fallen asleep at some point and waking up now he felt refreshed, energized, he felt like he could do anything at the moment.

"Morning Hiccup."

"Nice to see you awake after yesterday Master."

"Did I just miss half of yesterday completely?"

"Yes, you really should take breaks more often Master. Seeing you so at peace was a sight I hadn't thought I'd be able to see since we got here."

"Yeah Hiccup, you been reading every day since we got here. You hadn't slept like that since we left Berk. You look a lot more alive too."

"I feel alive." He yawned "Oh shit, the sheep. What happened with the sheep?"

"They were brought over yesterday like at sunset. The Driver saw you were asleep though so he left them outside. Woden went out to thank him."

"Oh that's great. Alright well I think I'll spend the day making some clothes. You guys do whatever it is you normally do."

Hiccup set to work. Admittedly the process was a bit difficult as he hadn't thought of bringing a sewing needle along. He apologized to Wodensfang and explained he actually needed his small claws to help him. Wodensfang was more than willing and overjoyed to be of service to his precious Master, normally he was nothing more an atlas telling them where to go or what to do. He started with the pants. Aside from having several holes and burn marks, Hiccup's current pants were also an inch or two shorter than they seemed to be, he had started growing since he left Berk. It was normal for a Viking of Hiccup's age to start a growth spurt, he just hadn't taken that into account when packing cloths. Some of the sheep had oddly colored wool like a light grey or brown so Hiccup at least didn't have to dress in all white, he was extremely thankful to Odin he was given these sheep. The pants he made from the two brown sheep wool he had. They looked no different from his other pants except for their length. He added pockets to the back of them as well though, and a few looped straps along the side. He thought the features would come into use at some point. The grey wool he used to make a new long sleeve shirt. It was a layered as well, he sewed it thick so as to be able to withstand colder temperatures if he had too. He still had a large amount of wool left over. He didn't have too much grey wool but figured a way around that. He would create a jacket as well. He would sew out layers of white wool from the other sheep to make the whole inner lining as well as some wool for insulation. Once he was done with all of that he used the left over wool to cover it. He would have one thin layer of grey wool stiffed inside with warm white wool. He now had pants similar, but slightly lighter, to the ones he used to wear. He replaced his almost trademark green shirt with a grey one and the vest turned into a nice jacket that even had a large hood, he had overshot the distance and the hood was too big for his head, though still very warm. He had spent almost two weeks wearing his raggedy cloths for the last time.

"Well it took longer than expected but I think they turned out well. Fit nice and everything."


	23. Chapter 23

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

After the cooperation of the Stormcutters the Drivers started helping them out just as they would help any other species living in the mountain range. It would take a while before the lives of the Stormcutters would improve though, in fact the species continued to experience the worst hardship for the first two weeks. At the start of the third week though there were noticible changes. By the start of the fourth week in cooperation the Stormcutters were visibly much healthier and moving around well enough. It wouldn't be until midway into two months of working together that they would finally all be at a normal and healthy weight and color. The six weeks proved to be the greatest testament to the Drivers promise to watch over, aid, and protect all of the fellow dragons in the mountain range. A few days after confirming that all the Stormcutters were healthy enough One-Eye came by the Archives personally.

"Hiccup, are you awake at this time?"

It was already midday but as of late Hiccup had gotten into a bad habit of sleeping at irregular times, often he would go almost two days with no sleep then drop to the floor for almost a full day.

"Yeah One-Eye, I'm in the back. Need me to get to you?"

"I believe that would be best Hiccup."

"Alright, gimme a sec."

Hiccup walked towards the front of the Archives. During the barely over seven months he had been here he had done a real number on the place. As he walked through the Archives stepping over books littered nearly all over the floor and the occasional knocked over shelf he thought it was in definite need of a cleaning or organizing. Hiccup made it to the door and saw nobody inside the Archives so he figured they were waiting outside. Stepping outside he was greeted by the usual bow of the Driver but there was another dragon there, it was a Stormcutter.

"A Stormcutter?

"Hello human."

"Not 'human', he has a name and if you want the Drivers to help you, you will acknowledge his heritage and who he is."

"Oh…sorry…all the information hadn't spread before I was told to come here."

"If that's the case then fine, but you will refer to him by name. Understood?"

"Ok. So what's his name?"

"I'm Hiccup. You know, I've always heard you guys refer to each by the species. Do dragons not give each other names?"

"It isn't a common thing Hiccup."

"Hiccup huh. Yeah what he said."

"Interesting. I hadn't gotten to read anything about that sort of thing so I was always curious. So what did you need?"

"Part of the agreement for us joining with the other dragons is that we help look after you."

"The shifts will change so that a Driver and Stormcutter will come by every twelve hours rather than one Driver replacing another every new day."

"Oh well that's cool. So are you starting the Stormcutters off?"

"Correct Hico."

"Hiccup."

"Right…sorry. That's right Hiccup."

"Ok then. Well I'm almost always inside anyway so you can just hang around out here. Sound good?"

"Sounds easy enough."

"Very well, I'll be off then."

"See ya later One-Eye."

"Well I'll be out here then."

"You're ok with this right?"

"I have to do it for the others. I'll do anything I can to help my friends and to repay the Drivers for deciding to help us."

"Well alright then."

* * *

Hiccup continued to spend his time as he had before. Every day he would pick up a new book and look through the pages repeatedly. After more than half a year here he had almost gotten to reading half of the library. He had sped through many more books on the dragon floor than he had on the human floor. At this point he had probably covered everything about all the dragons he had learned about growing up yet still didn't know how to properly smoke a fish. He decided to start spending the opposite amount of time on each section, where before he would read only two books a week on things he could do himself he was now going to read five of them instead. Maybe he would bring it down to four. Either way Hiccup wanted to train himself in some other areas other than just dragon knowledge. This is how he would spend another two months, still reading, still learning, and still showing the largest grin he'd ever had every day. Hiccup had learned how to identify dragons from just about anything he could see or hear. He learned about a huge variety of diets any species of dragon could survive off and if they had any weird quirks. As of late though since his switch he had learned a new type of knowledge, practical, he was a lot slower on the uptake for the books he read now than when he was reading on something he loved, like dragons. There was progress though, he almost burned his new cloths but learned to cook for himself now after a week of disgusting tasting failure. And although the amount of dishes he was able to make was incredibly limited, it was still enough variety. At the least Hiccup didn't have to eat the burnt black blobs that he had to endure for the previous months. Hiccup had also learned how to sew without referring to the book he found for every step, after making the new principal clothes he figured it would be a good idea to make a new pair of boots as well as socks. He would constantly unravel and sew together the socks he made, as a way to learn how to both sew with wool and some leather. He wasn't too keen on learning where the leather had come from, and didn't really bother to ask. In addition to these small skills Hiccup had continued to perfect his new forging methods. At the time the books were written it seemed that the Gronkles in the area still had the normal fire breathe. According to One-Eye the Gronkles now shot out ice or snow, so he couldn't test this just yet. He would make a request for One-Eye to search and make sure though.

This was how Hiccup spend another 3 months in the Archives. He had learned a bit more about the dragons in the area as well. The Stormcutters were more than willing to help him with any practice he wanted in any area they could help. The Drivers continued to bring him food and wool and when the Gronkles could help, minerals as well. In three months of devoting more time to himself than to the dragons he had learned to at least somewhat like the more bland activities. He had another three peaceful months until the day he heard more declarations of war.

* * *

Hiccup had been still been asleep at the time, it wasn't even day yet when he was awoken by the roars. He shot up straight and saw that he was alone right now. He couldn't see Toothless anywhere in the attic. He rushed down the stairs and glanced around back and forth, from wall to wall, Toothless wasn't on the second floor either.

"Toothless? Where are ya bud?"

There was no answer. He rushed through the Archives knocking over shelves and kicking aside books in a desperate dash to the other stairs. He didn't climb down these, he leapt from the top of them and landed with a big thud, his feet hurt a bit from the landing but he kept running to the entrance. He threw the door opened and ran outside.

"Hiccup, I thought you were still sleeping?"

"The roars woke me up. Whats going on bud?"

"Hiccup, I apologize but right now is not the best time for you to be out here."

"One-Eye whats happening? What were those roars?"

"Hiccup please, we need to make sure you stay safe. Head inside please."

"Tell me whats going on."

"Why is this damned building so far into these fucking mountians. I swear to Odin if this fucking place isn't what you claim it is I'll slice your head off Alvin."

"Enough 'o the whining. You agreed ta helpin me get 'ere and I said you could take whatever was left o'er. I don't need you and yer stupid dragons fer anything else."

"ALVIN?"

Alvin had somehow found his way to the Archives in the same cursed way he had somehow found his way to the island of Grimbeard the Ghastly. He was right there in plain view, missing an eye and hobbling with his damaged leg.

"What is it now? IT'S THE BOY. GET HIM, BRING HIM HERE."

"You know that scrawny little shit?"

"JUST FUCKING GET 'IM"

Alvin started charging towards Hicup, drawing his blade and yelling out incomprehensible words with his face a shade of red Hiccup didn't think could be made by a normal human. Hiccup blinked as Alvin was running and missed what happened but Alvin had crashed back where he first saw Hiccupp and was flat on his back. The Stormcutters and Saber Tooth Driver dragons were now forming a line of defense in front of him. there were five Drivers in the far front posing for battle. One-Eye in front of them all. Off to the side and above them there were six Stormcutters. All at once they let out roars, it was the single most terrifying thing Hiccup had ever heard. The fear of death rang through his body, he swore the sound alone was going to kill him, he had forgotten they were there to protect him. Hiccup blinked again and regained his composure.

"YOU FUCKIN WORTHLESS BEASTS, I'LL SKIN YE ALIVE AND MAKE BOOTS OUTTA THE LEATHER. YOU GOT DRAGONS DON'T YA CRAZY BASTARD, GET 'EM O'ER 'ERE."

"You do not speak to me like that Alvin. I know we need my dragons because you're too much a fucking maggot of a former Viking to take them all."

Hiccup could see that the man Alvin was yelling at looked very odd. His hair was very long and a dark shade of gray. It was in braids however and he had no beard. His clothes were also very dark, mainly being black, including the long cloak dragging behind him. Hiccup had never seen him before but knew that if they were yelling about bringing dragons this would not be even close to a bloodless victory. Roars rang out through the range again. They weren't as horrifying as the ones he had just head but still sent a shiver through his spine. Three giant dragons landed in front of the two villainous men that made their way through the pass. The dragon in the middle was the size of a house, it almost seemed to have armor plating covering its body. It had a long large horn taller than its leg and right on the tip of its nose pointing upwards. It had that armor like skin flowing back towards its body and covered its neck. It was the size of a house, not as tall as the Archives, but still huge. Its wings were tucked in tight and the tail had nothing special to it but with its size it could probably crush the Archives to splinters simply by running through it. Hiccup had only read about it recently, an Eight-Legged Battlegore. It was the ultimate battle dragon. The dragon to its right had probably the thinnest body of any dragon but it spanned almost thirty feet. Standing upright it was definitely as tall as the Archives. From nearly the tip of its tail to the start of its neck it spread out its wings, its pride, and probably its best method of fighting. The dragon had spikes protruding at parts of its wings and devilish horns on its head. This was a Timberjack, and given time to gain speed, would slice right through them. The last dragon was about half the size of the Battlegore. It had a sail on most of its back. Its head was a large and thick horn as part of its nose and a massive jaw probably making up most if its head. It may not have seemed to be as strong as the other or as great of a flier but it more than likely would crush up anything smaller than it with its mouth. Being a tracker class probably helped the Thunderclaw as well.

"These are some seriously tough dragons. Will you all be ok?"

"We got it Hiccup, don't worry."

"Rest assured Hiccup, nothing will break through to the Archives. They. Die. Here."

The Battlegore started to charge. It was aiming straight ahead and sought to crush anything in its path. Before he could pick up any steam though the five Drive dragons met him head on with their full force. It was a bone crushing meeting of pure brute force never seen by Vikings. Every single claw in the mass of ferocity dug deep into the ground. With all the force they could muster, the Driver dragons pushed and pulled the Battlegore around, knocking it to the ground. He tried to get up but they pounced on him before he could move at all. They dug their monstrous teeth into the Battleogre. They ripped apart his legs and side. He roared in pain, in anger. They sunk into him tearing flesh into shreds, they wouldn't stop for anything. They would bite out a chunk of meat spit it out and try to go for another bite. Every single Driver got to rip into him before he started to buck around and shook them off. Large masses of flesh were missing on his side. He jumped back up and gripped one Driver with his mouth barely cutting off its escape by its tail. He slammed him into the ground dashed forward, lifted his massive body front body in the air and slammed down on the guardian. Nothing was heard other then the thunder from this beasts claws smashing into the body of a dead dragon and ground beneath it. The Timberjack flapped its enormous wings creating a small snowstorm as it did. It lifted itself in the air and four of the Stormcutters rushed at it from the air. The revealed their second pair of wings and nearly doubled their speed. Altogether they crashed into its wings and continued to fly, dragging it through the air and stopping it from being able to do anything else. It used the spikes at some of its tips to grab one Stormcutter on each side. It got as good of a grip as it could and threw them off to the sides. The remaining Stormcutters pushed themselves up its wingspan and headed for its neck. The Timberjack started to fly up and spiral while doing so. It was spinning and spinning and rising as much as it could. The Stormcutters ripped into its wings to try to get it to stop. The Timberjack stopped in the air for a moment. The Stormcutters shot up past it and were now above it. The Timberjack let out a shriek. The other two Stormcutters crashed up into their opponent. Their tore into his wings with their claws and spikes and sunk their teeth into it repeatedly. The other two reacted immediately and shot down at it. They grabbed it by the horns and continued to fly down towards the ground as fast as they could. Never again would they fly this fast, but it was all to repay a debt.

One-Eye and two Stormcutters were still standing on the ground. Although the Thunderclaw wasn't as big as the Battlegore, it was still much bigger in size than either Stormcutter let alone a Saber Tooth Driver dragon. It flapped its wings and started hovering right above the ground. One-Eye started his charge straight at him. His entire species excelled at running in this icy, snowy mountain range. In a second he closed the at least twenty foot gap and jumped into the air. Like a boulder being shot out of a catapult he slammed into the Thunderclaw, pushing with all his force as he also flapped his wings. The Stormcutters were taken aback by how immediate the action was that it took them a second to also rush towards the dragons. With the force of the three they pushed him further away from the Archives and eventually crashed him into the side of a mountain at the entrance into the clearing.

The only ones left in the clearing now were Alvin and Hiccup along with the mysterious man and Toothless.

"THOSE FUCKIN WORMS O' YERS ARE GETTING TORN APART."

"Don't worry about the dragons. I want that black dragon. I'm taking it.

"Take it if you want. I'm killin dat bloody curse o' a boy."

Alvin dusted off the snow covering his body and started walking towards Hiccup with his rusted, unkept, jagged blade in hand. The man had a long harpoon for himself, it was taller than he was and looked like it was made of very tough metal. The tips on each point were almost sparkling as they caught the light.

"Hiccup, I'll get that other guy, you can take Alvin right?"

"Don't worry Toothless I got him."

Hiccup counted his blessings, for the past week he had been practicing textbook lunges with his sword and had it on him at all times. He would find out now if he was doing it right.

"Ima cut you up real nice boy, nobody would ever recognize a body with no skin. I'll be sure to repay ya for back when ya stole me sword."

"Thanks for the warning."

Alvin lunged forward with a rough thrust aiming right for Hiccup's chest. He moved out of the way and planned to slash upwards to cut Alvin's chest. Alvin backed up though and moved his arm far to the right to avoid that getting cut as well. Hiccup stepped forward and pinned Alvin's should with his Stormblade. The tip of the sword sunk in but before Hiccup could try to dig deeper into the flesh Alvin kicked as far forward as he could. He tripped up Hiccup and the sword was pulled away as Hiccup used both arms to try to regain his balance. His head and entire torso was bent down in front. Alvin brought his sword far behind him and propelled straight down to cut Hiccup in half. Hiccup threw himself to the right and landed on floor. He rolled away a few times and brought himself to a knee, sword lazily pointed ahead of him to Alvin's left side. _He definitely isn't following a rhythm this time, he might just be running on anger and swinging wildly. I still need to think of something._

The other man hadn't stepped too far forward with Toothless bounding over in front of him. He widened his feet and gripped his harpoon with both hands. Toothless bowed his head down low to the ground and arched the middle of his back up as much as he could trying to intimidate him. The man stared at him and inched forward. Toothless fired off a plasma ball at the man, it was barely dodged as the man lept aside but had one hand on the floor so as to not fall down completely. Toothless took the chance to punce on him. as he landed on the man the harpoon ripped through his shoulder gashing him open but not immobilizing him. Toothless growled at the man laying beneath him. He tried to crawl away. Toothless stomped on his right arm to stop him. He stepped forward and stomped on his left arm as well and layed as much weight as he could onto this arm. It groaned and crunched beneath him. The man curled his legs up and placed his feet on Toothless' abdomen and kicked up as hard as he could and kicked him off.

Hiccup was almost being tossed around Alvin, every slash, every thrust, every kick and punch were starting to be too much for him to fight off. _I think I've almost got it. Little switch ups. _Hiccup let Alvin slash down one more time and immediately plunged forward stabbing deep into the same shoulder as before. Alvin had been stepping forward so when Hiccup met him halfway the Stormblade almost glided right through Alvin and when he pulled away Hiccup twisted the blade as much as he could. The pain was amplified almost tenfold from that simple motion, not even counting the fact that the shoulder had just been pierced as well as being the shoulder that was wounded the last time they met. As Alvin reeled back he was blasted away and rolled a few feet.

* * *

The Battlegore let out a roar making its presence known. Hiccup looked behind him and saw the giant monster charging at him. He took a few steps and jumped as far away as he could and cleared the path of death. As it stomped by Hiccup caught a horrific look at it. Its legs were bleeding profusely and Hiccup could look deep into its body from what should be a fatal wound. It charged straight for the other man. The man slashed it across the face with the harpoon and hooked onto something on its back to get on. It ran over to Alvin to pick him up and nearly stomped on him. Alvin climbed up with a lot of trouble and only one really functioning arm. A roar was head again from behind Hiccup and he saw a pack of Driver dragons run up to his side. A giant came crashing down from the sky and landed at the entrance to the clearing. An enormous cloud of snow came up and blocked all visibility. Three streams of snow came shooting out of the snow and over to above Hiccup, three Stormcutters were maintaining a hover. The Timberjack they had been fighting was now shaking in the crater it created. The man let out what might have been his own roar of battle, or fear from the way he treated the dragons, and the Timberjack started to get up. It was thrown to the floor once again though as a bulky, spiked, ferocious dragon dug into its back and clawed at its wings. As soon as it landed there though the dragon leaped far off and away closer to Toothless who was now up on his feet after being thrown off. Two Stormcutters came flying through the entrance and stood between the two dragons and Hiccup and the other dragons.

"I'LL KILL YA SOME DAY YA FUCKING SCRAWY SHIT EATING MAGGOT."

The Timberjack tried to get up again as the Battle gore stampeded off down the path. It barely got up and slithered away using its wings. The Thunderclaw hadn't come back the same way the other dragons had which could really only mean one thing to Hiccup. One-Eye does not joke.

One-Eye looked Toothless over quickly and returned to the Stormcutters who had flown off with him. They were in nearly perfect condition aside from some small bruises along their bodies. One-Eye finally came over to the other dragons. One Saber Tooth Driver dragon and one Stormcutter were missing.

"I think we're down for today One-Eye. Do what you need to do."

"Thank you Hiccup."


	24. Chapter 24

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

Hiccup had been recovering from the fight for a few days. He also decided it would be for the best to let the dragons bury their friends and take some time for themselves. None of the usual Driver dragons had been by as the guard for the duration of the time Hiccup thought they were mourning, he couldn't say much about the Stormcutters as they had spent nowhere near enough time for Hiccup to recognize each one of them. After a little over a week the Driver dragons and the Stormcutters who had fought when Alvin and the man tried to invade all came by at once at Hiccup's request. He had spent the entire time thinking more than reading books but he was certain that what he had in mind was something that was just about mandatory. Hiccup wanted large quantities of leather. During this time Hiccup also didn't converse much with his dragons. They had spoken more any other day of their journey than the time after the battle, it unsettled them both even if they would never state it but knew that perhaps it was an odd time to talk as casually as they used, considering Toothless' wound and Hiccup's several near death instances.

Hiccup thought he knew what had to be done.

"Well there was a really bad fight a while back. We know what they were after too. that's why I think what I'm about to say is a good idea. I've almost been here a year but I don't think I should be here any longer. And that sucks, but anyway. I think we need to destroy the Archives."

"Master, what are you saying?"

"Hiccup I know this place is your right but please think about this."

"Come on Hiccup what was the point in coming here if we burn it down?"

"Woah, woah, hear me out guys. Those guys that came here. They wanted to take this place for themselves. They knew it was here somehow and they were going to stop at nothing."

"Hiccup, we fended those bastards with relative ease, there is no reason for worry."

"You beat them that time. What if they come back with more people? Or dragons? What then?"

"Then we'll stomp them out then as well."

"One-Eye, you can't fight them forever."

"But Master, what about the future Hiccups, what of them?"

"There won't be any others that need the Archives. Besides its not like I'm gonna destroy everything. We'll take the most important stuff we can carry."

"We have always been tasked with protecting the Archives, it would go against the word given to us by Hiccup Horrendous Haddock."

"Well I'm also Hiccup Horrendous Haddock and I say we need to destroy them. Are you gonna to go against my word?"

"Hiccup, we will not oppose you. So long as you have a good enough reason, we will not oppose you."

"Alright that sounds a lot better. People like Alvin and his friend are going to keep coming back. Nobody can keep this place guarded forever. If you let me pack up the most important books here we'll take care of them and burn down everything that can be replaced."

"How will you decide among the thousands books which are important and which are not?"

"The stuff I haven't memorized in the ten months here are important, easy. We also won't be doing anything for a while too. I'm thinkin like a month would be enough. I need some more bags, so more leather."

"Have you really memorized everything you've read here Hiccup"

"I'm in disbelief as well Master."

"Yeah Hiccup, that's like really crazy."

"Listen, these books are probably the most interesting ones in the world. There's no way I wouldn't memorize something as awesome as this. I'm way more than halfway through too, at least with the important human skills, and most of the dragon ones too."

"I presume you've been thinking about this a lot then if you've planned this."

"Yeah, I kinda have. So, how's that for a reason One-Eye?"

"Is there no way to change your mind Hiccup?"

"Master, are you entirely sure about this?"

"I have thought about this since the fight was over and there's no way I'm taking it back."

"Very well Hiccup. If you are truly sure of yourself we will aid you."

"Great. I'm gonna need a lot of leather first though, need to make bags to carry the books."

"Brothers, you've heard Hiccup, we begin today."

* * *

The Driver dragons and the Stormcutter dragons set off immediately to follow through on Hiccup's request. They would hunt for a few days looking for any kind of animal that they thought had tougher skin, to provide Hiccup with better materials for the bags. Meanwhile Hiccup continued to read a few books, the last ones he would get to read from this marvelous building. Hiccup certainly wished he would never even have to leave the Archives, but he knew that more and more raids were inevitable and there was no way they would be held off forever, sooner or later somebody would break in and take who knows how many books. As far as Hiccup knew, there was nobody else in the archipelago that shared his sentiment that dragons were much more than the mindless killers that Vikings made them out to be. He also knew from reading all these books that if anybody ever got their hands on them, and they didn't share his insight into the dragon world, that they would mercilessly use the knowledge in these books to decimate these wonderful creatures. Hiccup thought about all of this every day leading up to when the supplies he requested were brought to him.

After a week of hunting, the dragons figured they had gathered enough carcasses for Hiccup to make use of. Admittedly some of the bodies not in nearly as good of a condition as others but at least there was, or should be, enough for Hiccup to work with without worry. Hiccup got started on making some large bags, Toothless was already carrying two very large bags by himself, it was how they had carried all their supplies until now. If Toothless was forced to carry another two bags, Hiccup had to wonder if there would be any negative effects. Maybe there wouldn't be any health problems but Hiccup thought it would be very likely that putting the amount of weight he estimated these books to be would slow down Toothless when flying. It would probably also endanger them on the ground if there were an occasion where Toothless had to fight but had trouble doing so because of the bags. _Maybe I should ask him about it._

After a week and a half of working on the bags Hiccup had now been at the Archives for a full eleven months. He was sad that the time was about to come to an end but he figured it was what he had to do. Wodensfang was also saddened that Hiccup was unable to spend all the time he need to and almost felt like he had failed Hiccup in that sense. Wodensfang was the one who had been leading them from the incredible hiding place for the Stormblade to this amazing almost yearlong experience. Toothless had been spending the last few weeks here conversing a lot more than usual with the Driver dragons and the Stormcutters. In the months they had been here Toothless had just been playing around with them all. He had learned a lot about the things that set him apart from them. The brute strength of a Driver dragon was nothing to laugh at from his perspective, more often than not when they wrestled to pass the time Toothless had a very tough time trying not to get tossed around. When they raced though, be it on land or in the skies, Toothless had a much easier time keeping up with or even passing every Driver dragon in the mountains. He had almost the exact opposite results with the Stormcutters though. They were excellent fliers going at higher speeds with ease but not showcasing the best of strength in a friendly sparring match. Hiccup was happy to see Toothless getting along with everybody much more than before, and also saddened that he was going to be cause of ending the happiness for his best friend and journey partner.

Hiccup had finished up the bags and they were really large. Each bag would easily be able to hold Hiccup himself if he could contort himself into an odd position. Now Hiccup just needed to go through all the books he hadn't read yet to figure out which ones were indispensable. Going through the human skills section almost seemed like a waste of time though seeing what most of the leftover books were about. Many of them were about dishes from different parts beyond the archipelago, lands with unique beauty materials, and many other subjects that didn't hold any real merit to Hiccup. After three days of looking through those books he only took about ten books, most of which had to do with manners or traditions that he thought would do him some good in the future. He had to spend almost four days looking through all the books left over having to do with dragons, most of the time Hiccup had actually spent skimming through the books and trying to explain to Wodensfang and One-Eye that he wasn't messing around even though he was. So after a week of organizing the necessary books Hiccup figured he had packed up all the books that he would need to reference to someday re-write them and hide them away in a safer location. _Well now is probably the best time to talk to him about it._

* * *

After Hiccup finished everything up he called for One-Eye again. One-Eye decided to be the Driver guardian for the time that Hiccup called for him.

"I want you to come with us One-Eye."

"Master?"

"Seriously Hiccup?"

"Hiccup what are you saying?"

"I want you to join us on our journey. I know you'll ask me if I've thought this through as well like with the whole burning the Archives thing, and I have, I thought it while packing up actually."

"Hiccup this is one thing I cannot go along with. I have to remain here to protect my brothers, and the other dragons as well. They depend on me."

"Don't you think they can manage without you? You know they're tough dragons."

"I know their strength. I know their wit. I know everything about them. It does not mean I can leave on a whim, even if we are indebted to your ancestor."

"It's not on a whim. I think you would awesome if you came with us. And maybe you'll like it."

"Hiccup, I can't go along this time."

"How about you talk about it with the other Drivers? Then we burn down the Archives and whether you want to come with us or not is undecided until then? How's that?"

"Very well then. We will talk about it for a few days then come to burn down the Archives."

* * *

Hiccup waited for another three days while the Driver dragons were talking. They would still send somebody by to guard him while he was there but every single one of them also refused to talk about what was going on. They didn't seem any different though as well which made Hiccup think nothing was going to come of the talks and he would leave with only Toothless and Wodesnfang. Eventually One-Eye came by with a small group of Saber Tooth Driver dragons, Gronkles and some Stormcutters. They arrived early in the morning shortly after the sun had risen. They set to work demolishing the books. First up were the Driver dragons, they ran through and tore down the building, ripping it to shreds with their claws and large spikes. They leapt around tearing down the walls and the roof and left a pile of scrapped lumber. The Stormcutter's job was simpler but still required a good amount of effort to maintain a stable steady flame that was contained to the wood. They were making sure to burn the remains into the smallest particles of ash that they could. They wanted to leave nothing behind. Finally the Gronkles started to hover over the charred mess of what used to be the Archives. Since the Gronkles in the area had developed a specialized icy breather rather than their normal breath they were the last ones to erase this place so it would never be found. They covered the entire area in solid, think, near unbreakable ice. They breathed layer after layer of ice down on the remains and eventually started to settle down when there should be nothing left. The Archives were no more.

"So One-Eye, what do ya say? Coming with?"

"Hiccup, this was no easy matter to discuss. The nights were spent wide awake talking, thinking, arguing and pleading for both directions. I've been here my whole life, I was one of the original dragons to greet Hiccup Horrendous Haddock when he first came here. And now I will be the original dragon to aid a new Hiccup Horrendous Haddock. I will go with you. It is the will of my brothers and the will of my own. We will journey together."

"Fucking awesome One-Eye, I'm so glad you're coming with us. So I guess we leave today. Mind carrying the books?"

"With honor."


	25. Chapter 25

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

Hiccup, with his new traveling companion the exceptionally strong Saber Tooth Driver dragon One-Eye, set off down the mountain path to start the journey to a new location. He didn't know where he was going to go next or if Wodensfang had yet another plan for them but he knew that with these three incredible friends with him, there would be nothing to worry about. Hiccup reminisced about the first time they were on this path and how dangerous it had been that time, it was amazing to think that since then he had more than tripled his knowledge on dragons was still a surprise if he was honest. He still couldn't believe he had just destroyed and abandoned a place like the Archives, but it was a necessity as much as he disliked it. Considering how badly the first trek through the mountains had gone, it seemed like they were rushing through the pass but actually going through at a normal walk. They made it through the pass in half the time. When they reached the initial opening into the mountain range where One-Eye originally warned them of his position as a guardian, One-Eye couldn't help but stop dead in his tracks right before they walked out. One-Eye was stood completely still, wings relaxed and starting to droop, head down staring at the ground and a small shiver shown on his tail as it rustled the snow behind him. They heard a monstrous roar, a roar that was two roars hidden and blended into one another. It was the roar of a pair of Stormcutters. Then they heard another roar, a roar resounding with strength and determination. It was the roar from one of his brothers. Hiccup looked back at his new companion stood there. One-Eye heard the roars then he started walking forward and took his new position on Hiccup's left side. Hiccup hopped aboard Toothless and each of the friends looked at each other and nodded. Toothless extended his wings and leaped into the aor. One-Eye lifted his own wings as they were almost dragging on the ground and with all of his strength leapt even higher than Toothless and let out his own ferocious roar.

* * *

"So Woden, got a new destination for us?"

"Well Master, we'd be going there much earlier than I would've like but considering the progress you said you made with the books, I think we'd have gone there early anyway."

"Yeah…haha…alright then, where we going?"

"I'd like to take you to train with the greatest swordsman in all of the Barbaric Archipelago."

"Sounds fucking amazing."

"Sounds dangerous to be honest Hiccup."

"Nah One-Eye, Hiccups pretty handy on his own, this sounds great."

"Don't worry about it One-Eye, I may not be totally trustworthy in a fight, but this could help me a lot. Ok with that?"

"If Toothless and Woden believe it the best option, I shan't object."

"Cool. So what's the bearing this time Woden?"

"If memory serves well, we are heading far south and southeast."

"I thought these mountains were the eastern most point in the archipelago?"

"To the average Viking they are. To people aiming to train under the best though, there is a hidden area far to the south that leads to the tallest mountain. That is where we are headed Hiccup and that is where you will learn a wonderful art."

"Sounds like its far away."

"Sounds perfect, I would like nothing more than to learn of your past travels. This presents a perfect opportunity to do so."

"That's the spirit One-Eye. Alright then. Off we go. To meet the master."

* * *

Toothless and One-Eye set off in the direction Wodensfang said was their next destination. The three decided it would be best to start off from the beginning. During the days they traveled to the new place they might call home for who knows how long they took turns talking about their experiences. Hiccup had been the first one to talk about his life on Berk. He explained everything in the same manner that he explained it to Wodensfang. He went into the everyday life that was supposed to be for a Viking and added in what his actual life was like. Hiccup talked about the mocking and the insulting, he talked about the general hate he seemed to get from the entire village and the absolute lack of support from his father. One-Eye seemed to grow more and more enraged as Hiccup explained the years of his growth on Berk but would always get calmed down by Hiccup himself. He would explain it was of no use at all getting mad over something that couldn't be changed and he eventually came to the day where he and Toothless met in the forest. The flying and camping had gone on for almost a week at that point and the time just seemed to soar by with Hiccup talking. Reading all those books on dragon and Viking culture turned Hiccup into a much more eloquent speaker and it was very visible to Wodensfang. The next few days of talking were split between Toothless and Hiccup. They would go into details about how they each perceived the situation with Toothless making some remarks here and there making Hiccup seem nothing like his current self, he talked about the scrawny boy who was almost terrified of anything with scales and Hiccup talked about how easy it was to tame this giant pet. The journey got a lot livelier with both of them talking and all of them laughing at the failed flight attempts and hours they spent together without talking. Multiple times a day, elongating their trip, they would have to touch down on land to avoid crashing from losing concentration from the giggle fits they had. As opposed to the near week Hiccup talked by himself, the two only talked for a day and a half. At this point Wodensfang was overjoyed he would finally be able to chime in for himself as they had arrived to the point in the story where the duo had landed on the island and would bring him along with him and he was more than happy to aid Hiccup. Now that the three of them were together in the story, Wodensfang mainly, spoke easily about their adventures in being led around by an old, small, brilliant dragon. One-Eye was fascinated by the way the weeks and months they spent together. To One-Eye, the second Wodensfang joined their group, the duo turned trio began walking down a new path they probably would've never even dreamed of. Wodensfang was clear on the issue though, Hiccup was destined for great things no matter what, he just needed a little guidance and Wodensfang gave that to him. Wodensfang explained a little more in depth what it currently meant to be a Hiccup to him. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock was a cursed name. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock was not a name given to Vikings to have a normal life, or even a remotely good one for that matter in regards to Vikings. Wodensfang explained what had happened to the previous Hiccup's, how they were abandoned and expected to die alone and far away from any village before even growing. No Hiccup went through that though and that's why the current Hiccup now has such a big burden on his shoulders, it was almost like his ancestors had always been creating this new path for him. They acquired knowledge on dragons from around the globe and now he had a chance to create a new path not just for him but for all the Vikings, and maybe more people he wasn't even aware of yet. While Hiccup began to think of why he had this name and what it meant started to clear up for him, admittedly he was slightly uneasy but also fascinated that maybe he would amount to something greater than anybody thought he would. Wodensfang continued to tell the stories of everything the three had gone through. He went into minute detail about boulders, temperature, and time when he explained how they came across the seadragonus giganticus maximus and their resounding victory in the terrifying fight. Wodensfang went on and on at this point how they overcame the odds, how they should have had no chance, how Hiccup's genius plan had saved them and praised Toothless' flying then to that of a gods. Eventually Wodensfang moved on and told One-Eye about the island with the Stormblade. Toothless would chime in often at this part about feeling left behind but stopped when they reached the part about Alvin. Hiccup spoke up here as being a big reason why he should go train in combat and with resounding determination One-Eye claimed to always help protect hiccup from a situation like that. By now they had been flying for almost two weeks when Wodensfang spoke up. They had been flying over a large swamp area for half a day when they touched down. Off in the distance Hiccup could see what he presumed to be the lower part of a mountain, there was a thick gas covering the rest of it up so he couldn't completely make out how tall it really was. There wasn't a large amount of trees around them and nobody could really see a path leading anywhere. The swamp showed no real signs of land that wasn't submerged by murky brown or green water.

"Woden, where are we? Why'd we come to a swamp?"

"We're not here for the swamp Master. If we walk east from here we should arrive to where we need to get to in a timely manner."

"Well ok then. You heard him guys, east."

"Why'd we have to land here though? You always do this. We land away from wherever and then walk. Why don't we just fly straight there. I hate you at times like these."

"Come now Toothless, if Wodensfang had us land here it is for a reason. Now keep up."

* * *

The group was wading through the shallow water. It was a bit tougher on Toothless seeing he was shorter than One-Eye in general so he had to put a little more strength into lifting his claws. They walked only a minute or two before stepping completely out of the water and coming onto tough stone. Up ahead Hiccup could make out what looked to be a staircase carved out of the side of the mountain. Wodensfang had them walk until they were a few feet away and told them that this was far enough.

"Why do we have to stop here? Why not go up the mountain?"

"I'm sorry, the master is an odd fellow I never quite understood. I've met him before but he always has weird rules. One is that everybody is to wait at the bottom of the staircase."

"Who goes there? What are ya doing 'ere? What is it ya want?"

"There he is now."

"Sir, I've come a long way to get here, I've been traveling for months. I would like for you to teach me how to swordfight as you are the best in the archipelago."

"Zat what ya 'eard? Well it's true. I am the best swordsman in the whole o' the archipelago. So why should I train ya? Yer a scrawny lil boy I see, what need ya got to learn 'ow to fight?"

"Because I need to learn how to use this sword." Hiccup stated firmly while hopping off Toothless and rummaging through the bags for the Stormblade. The master marveled at the blade. His eyes went wide and his mouth was agape as he stared at the sword Hiccup held and slowly twisted. He was fixated on the beautiful blade and started stepping forward.

"Lemme see zat."

"Only if you promise to train me."

"Alright alright, I'll train ya now lemme see that wonderful sword."

"My dragons watch over you every time you want to see it and only if you train me."

"I already said I'd train ya and yeah let yer dragons do what they want."

"Are you not surprised by Toothless and One-Eye?"

"Nope, now gimme da blade boy."

"Not even a little?"

"Listen, I get the weirdest, roughest, stupidest, most desperate people comin round here lookin to train wit me. Yer just another one, the most unique, but just another."

"Well…alright then."

A hoard of dragons flew overheard, roaring and shrieking, flapping their wings in desperation as if running fleeing in terror from something that could've crawled up from the depths of Hel. They were zipping every which way past them and crying out in fear, Hiccup knew something was wrong."

"COME BACK HERE MY LITTLE MORSELS. I'VE YET TO FINISH MY MEAL. I'LL CATCH YOU ONE WAY OR ANOTHER. YOU SMELL SO DELICIOUS AND I'LL GAMBLE YOU TASTE JUST AS GOOD LITTLE WORMS."

"Oh no…."


	26. Chapter 26

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

"Boy, why ya lookin like zat, you know dem roars o' the giant dragon?"

"Sir, we need to get away. Like now."

"What ya mean get away? Ya think a beast that roars like that aint gon catch us? Even with yer dragons."

"One-Eye, take him far, far away. We don't know how this'll turn out."

"Understood Hiccup."

"Toothless, Woden, let's get up high. Let's try to spot this guy."

"Sir, I need you to trust me, get on One-Eye and let him take you somewhere safe."

"Ya must be fuckin daft little dragon boy, aint no way I'm getting on a beast."

"Sir please. If you want to live, get on One-Eye. We can handle this."

The swordsman was staring intently at Hiccup, he was sure there was nothing the boy before him could do. A roar that could shake the trees and crack the stone came from a beast stood above them all on the food chain. Hiccup met his gaze though, there was a certainty and courage he had only displayed once before. Hiccup knew what was coming, what it could do, and most importantly, he knew how to fight back against this monster and take victory from its horrifying claws.

"Alright, alright boy. This beast better git my somewhere safe ya 'ear."

"Thank you. Go One-Eye. Come on Toothless, Woden."

One-Eye bowed down before the swordsman and let him get on. He rushed on and was slammed against the dragons back as it leapt into the air and the force of the rise and air squished the swordsman. Toothless leapt up at the same time. From where they were hovering, a good fifteen feet above the ground and barely over the treetops, they couldn't see anything just yet. One-Eye had soared off back in the direction they had come. He flew quickly but roughly and heard grunts of exasperation from the swordsman on his back. They had flown far enough away that Toothless and Hiccup were now barely a speck in the distance and he began to descend. The swordsman had been clinging to him desperately, grabbing a spike in each hand and tucking wrapping his feet down to One-Eye's sides. He was reliefed when he opened his eyes to see the ground coming close and closer through the treetops. This wasn't something he would ever see again though and decided to hop off extremely early and landed on a treetop. One-Eye was almost stunned with surprise, he dove down the few feet to retrieve the man but was met with a smack on the snout.

"I don't know what zat boy has planned but I wanna see it for meself. Go back to 'im, I'll be fine up here."

One-Eye let out a grunt and turned around, he shot off back towards his friends to help them.

* * *

"YOU FUCKING WORTHLESS WORMS, WHERE DID YOU ALL GO, I SAID I WOULD DEVOUR YOU ALL AND IT WOULD BE PAINLESS. NOW I'M GOING TO CAPTURE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU AND SKEWER YOU ON MY CLAWS AND SLURP OFF THE BLOOD BEFORE CHEWING YOU AND EVENTUALLY GIVING YOU THE SWEET RELEASE OF DEATH."

"Behind the mountain. The roars are coming from behind the mountain. Let's go Toothless."

They shot off flying around the giant stone cone, slowing down as soon as they saw some kind of figure peeking around the curve. One-Eye had now rejoined them alerting them by nearly slamming into them midair.

"Master, what are we doing this time? The maximus is definitely not trapped this time."

"Yeah, last time we did this we had a lot of help from the volcano."

"Gimme a second to think. Woden, you don't know anything about this guy do you?"

"I SMELL SOME NEW MORSELS. IT'S A DIFFERENT SCENT UNLIKE ANYTHING I'VE DEVOURED BEFORE. WHERE ARE YOU SNEAKY LITTLE MEALS? I'LL MAKE GOOD USE OF YOU, MELTING YOUR SKIN OFF WITH MY ROYAL ACIDIC BREATHE"

"I think he breathes acid rather than fire Master. We can't finish him off in the same manner as the last seadragonus giganticus maximus."

"Ok but maybe we can do something with the acid. From what I read, dragons who spew acid work the same way, their insides aren't acid proof the way their scales are."

"Ok but we can't set the acid on fire Hiccup, I don't have a way of knowing when he's gonna use it. "

"What if we were to force the monster to down it? If we can create a scenario where he swallows his own acid."

"Ok that sounds good, but how do we that?"

"Master, perhaps we could still try something similar to the first time."

"Ok, what's your idea?"

"As you said, acidic dragons are much more resistant to all acids, especially their own, on the outside. Wouldn't that reduce their fire resistance?"

"I didn't read anything like that but it's worth a shot. Ok so here's how we have to approach."

* * *

The friends conversed about their plan of action as the giant dragon continued to search for them. Finally he smelled their exact direction and began walking around the mountain. He let out a roar, like before it was a roar meant not just to intimidate, but to paralyze with fear, he wanted to make them stop dead in the air before eating them. He looked right at them and they each glared back at him. He opened his giant abys of a mouth and shot out his dark green acid. He spewed it in an enormous cone area in front of him, it covered the side of the mountain, it covered so much of the mountain he almost looked small next to amount of acid. The four had dashed off in time though and were completely fine. Toothless was hovering behind him at an extremely safe distance where not even the giant's tail would reach him. He blasted out three plasma bolts hitting the monster along his back.

"You insignificant snake, how dare you strike me, the Great Merciless. I've eaten dragons twice your size and tasted every scale on their body."

"Well I'm tougher than they were and I'm gonna put you in your place stupid shit filled barf dragon."

"INSOLENCE."

Merciless swung around swatting the far side of the mountain with his tail, shaking it with the force of an earthquake. Toothless began to back off slightly. Merciless began to rush them down, stomping and crushing everything in his path. Toothless shot another two plasma bolts hitting the enormous dragon on the right side of its face nearly destroying his eyes. He threw his head to the side in pain and let out a roar but kept charging towards them, trying to keep his left eyes on them. Bursting up from the ground, leaving a crater from the strength put forward and tearing tree trunks apart into splinters One-Eye exploded off the ground straight up and forward. The much smaller but still brutish dragon slammed into Merciless' side and started ripping in with claw and fang. He had managed to crush something hard inside the dragon's body and figured he slammed right into a bone. Merciless had never seen him coming from the right side, he had shut his eyes after nearly being blinded. Merciless roared out in pain again. One-Eye clawed his way along the scales, tearing them off with his claws and ripping into the fleshy meat beneath them with his giant teeth. He decimated as much of the dragons body as he could, leaving a large spot at least twice his size in the side of the dragon. Merciless had no idea what to do about the pest on his side. He figured the best thing he could do was squash him with all his weight so he threw himself into the air and flipped to his side. One-Eye noticed what was happening immediately and unlatched from the monsters body and flew out from beneath him as fast as he could. Merciless crushed the trees, soil, boulders, and everything else beneath his body. There was immediate regret as everything that was being crushed by the protected areas of his body were stabbing into the area One-Eye was working on. One-Eye dashed up and away to Hiccup's side to prepare for the next part of their plan.

Merciless was roaring and spitting out acid onto the floor from the amount of pain he was in. Merciless struggled to get back on all fours. He could feel the boulders and tree stick to his wound and slowly drop off as he shook from his attempt to get up. Toothless and One-Eye glided off to the side opposite his wound. Toothless built up as much gas as he could and let it all out as he blasted Merciless' left wing with a massive plasma bolt. Merciless looked straight at them and let a wave of acid burst out of his mouth and cover the skies above them to try to melt them into nothing. They flew away with a small panic in each of their hearts. This time they worried, they flapped harder and faster while diving to avoid the downpour of death. Merciless began charging at them, baring his enormous maw and the fangs lining it as if saying he was going to eat them right then and there and enjoy every piece of their flesh in his stomach. They veered off to the side and heard a thunderous crushing of the earth as Merciless stopped himself from by digging his claws into the ground and beginning to turn to face them again. Toothless and One-Eye started to ascend into the sky, they had to stick very close together though as the gas or fog had not thinned out in the slightest. Merciless unfurled his wings and flapped them once, the area around him was nearly stripped of all the rooted trees and only left dirt behind. He followed them into the sky and started flying around to find them. One-Eye slammed into him again with full force and destroying both of his right eyes permanently. One-Eye dashed off into the fog again before he could possible get knocked out of the sky by the giants deadly claws.

"I WILL FIND YOU FUCKING DEGENERATE, WORTHLESS, INFURIATING, SCALE COVERED SHITSACKS. YOU WILL BE CRUSHED WILL ALL MY MIGHT AND MELTED INTO THE EARTH WITH MY ACID."

Merciless looked straight up and spewed a fountain of acid. His mouth flooded over with all the acid he was heaving up and as he turned his head in every direction he covered more and more of the area with acid. When he stopped and the acid continued to downpour around him he searched feverously hoping to catch even a glimpse of the dragons who were admittedly tossing him around like a newborn. Out of the fog again with no warning One-Eye came barreling in a straight line and smashed into Merciless. One-Eye was very deliberate with his aim this time and crushed his targets throat, he smashed into it and this time twisted his body around so that the spikes on his back stabbed into the neck as well. Merciless had troubled breathing for a few seconds, he could feel his throat tighten up and some blood spill out of the puncture wounds. One-Eye glided right in front of him this time. Merciless was about to take a swipe at him when he stopped being able to feel his left wing. He was drooping off to his left and had trouble staying in the air. One-Eye dove straight down and began to correct himself by starting to fly at an angle downward now. Merciless chased after him and began to try to open his mouth. The pain in his throat made him shut his mouth close like a guillotine cutting off his air, his crushed throat stopped him from opening his mouth too wide. He was catching up though and would soon grip the dragon with his claws. Plasma bolts rained down on him though, one straight to his left side of his face, temporarily blinding him. Another exploded on the tip of his right wing. Another exploded yet again in the middle of his wing this time and was followed up by two more at different areas on his right wing. Merciless managed to open his eyes as he came out of the fog but One-Eye was nowhere in his sight. He could very clearly see the side of the mountain completely covered in acid though, the acid he shot only a few minutes earlier. He spread out his wings in desperation but didn't slow down in the slightest. A quick glance showed his left wing had a giant hole right in the middle the height of his wing and at least a third as wide. His right wing was missing the tip and had holes near his body and in the middle as well, none of which were as big as the left hole but more than enough to render them useless. He crashed into the side of the mountain and was covered in his own acid. He tried to turn around to look for the dragons but his head was slammed down into the ground. A boulder the size of his claw crushed his head flat as it came hurling down from further up. More and more enormous boulders came rolling down the side of the mountain, breaking off more of the mountain and creating other boulders. Stone after stone crushed a different part of the giant's body. More and more rocks came hurling down denting him and burring him. Nothing could be seen of the dragon after a minute.

* * *

Toothless and One-Eye landed close to where they initially were when the roars were heard. One-Eye took off into the sky. Hiccup called him down. The swordsman walked up to them.

"You teach me how to befriend some dragons, I'll teach you everything about a blade."

"Deal."


	27. Chapter 27

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

**Its been an extremely busy week , i apologize for not being able to update. I plan on working extra to catch up to my release schedule. Again, I apologize.**

* * *

The four friends started climbing to the top of the mountain. Considering the time of the day they had arrived at the base and the fight they were forced to have Hiccup wasn't sure if they would make it to the top of the mountain before nightfall. During the fight they had flown pretty high up into the gaseous fog and still couldn't come out on top and considering how wide the mountain was, there was no telling how tall it was. The swordsman was completely silent of the way up, he just kept trudging upwards. Hiccup was looking over the large man. He didn't look like many other Vikings. He didn't have a thick beard stretching down to his gut or the width that most Vikings had. He was very tall, taller than anyone he'd seen before and he had dark brown hair, similar to Hiccup's own, that actually was long and in thick braids coming down to below his shoulders.

"So…uh…what should I call you? If I'll be here a while."

"Flashburns the name. That'll do."

"Flashburn huh, that's pretty cool, traditional Viking sounding name."

"Enough with the name. So what will I be callin ya? Only well-mannered to give yer name if ya ask mine."

Hiccup paused for a second, he stopped walking and he stopped thinking. It'd been a real long time since he talked to anyone that didn't have scales on their body and wasn't quite ready now that he thought about it. He especially didn't think of whether he should give out his name, considering he just disappeared.

"Boy, ya 'ear me? Why'd ya stop movin as well? Name, yer name, and keep walkin."

"Rydell."

"What was zat?"

"My name. My name's Rydell."

"Oh yeah? Alright then, hurry it up Rydell, we only halfway there and I aint fond 'o climbing these stairs at night."

"Sorry, hurrying."

"Rydell huh?"

"Odd name choice Master."

"Why not use your name Hiccup?"

"I'll explain some other time, it's not that weird a name either."

"If you say so Master."

Flashburn continued walking up the mountain with Hiccup at a distance he could keep up at without tiring himself too much. They had been walking up for a few hours at Flashburn's demand. If Hiccup wanted to train with Flashburn he was going to have to live the same way he did. This meant going up and down the mountain was to be done with no help, food was to be obtained on his own, and practice was going to be held at exact hours and if Hiccup didn't practice the entire time he was free to find another master. When Flashburn explained these terms at the bottom of the mountain they seemed like simple and easy to follow rules, walking up the mountain now proved these simple instructions probably had a lot more to them than Hiccup initially thought. They had been walking for maybe six hours when Flashburn was missing from Hiccup's sight. Hiccup was in a bit of a panic, if he had fallen too far behind Flashburn might have decided against training him. Hiccup immediately started running but didn't go for more than two seconds when he saw that his head now peaked above the clouds. He looked to his right and saw nothing but clouds. He looked to his left and saw Flashburn's feet turned towards him.

"We 'ere Rydell."

"This place is…"

"Enough gawking, yer lucky todays an offday. I'm throwin stew in the pot. Be ready to eat when I call ya. Analyze the land fer now, yer training starts tomorrow."

"Got it."

The top of the mountain was smaller than Hiccup expected. It wasn't small by any stretch but it seemed almost too small. Hiccup got to trying to measure the distance it was from several edges to the opposite side. For the most part, the distance was about fifty feet, more or less at different edges. This meant that at any point the ground was about the length of the Archives, which would explain why it seemed so small. While the sizes were about the same, the mountain range had a large field in which the Archives were rather than the building just being on its own. The size was large enough though, if Hiccup and his dragons could live comfortably at the Archives, this new land shouldn't be too much of a problem. The high altitude provided a nice cold breeze almost the entire time as well, making it a bit easier on One-Eye.

* * *

Right as the sun was gone beneath the clouds Flashburn called Hiccup over to eat. The dragons would have to scrounge up their own food though, to Toothless' frustration. The dragons exchanged a few words of disappointment with not being able to stay by Hiccup's side and were rushed off so they would be able to come back by the time Hiccup and Flashburn would finish eating. Flashburn certainly wasn't the most talkative person Hiccup had ever known, any sort of conversation between them was started by Hiccup. Hiccup learned that Flashburn had been left abandoned in the woods when he was a child, he was almost four when he was tossed away. He couldn't recall much about his life before that and figured it must have been completely unimportant if he didn't. He said he eventually was picked up by a frighteningly small tribe of nomadic Vikings, at any time there must not have been more than thirty people traveling together. When Hiccup asked about how it is that he became such a profound swordfight Flashburn claimed it was just something he picked up from traveling so much. He had learned different styles of fighting from different Viking tribes and people outside the archipelago. One day he noticed that anybody he came across had no chance of winning against him and felt a great pride in that. He could only take so many years of this though, having the knowledge that you'll always win eventually bores you, so he left on a final journey to find somewhere he could rest. He came across this giant mountain in a hidden away part of the archipelago and began working on turning it into a home.

They had talked for maybe an hour when the dragons returned from hunting. Flashburn said it was time to sleep and Hiccup was certainly ready for that after all he'd been through that day. He awoke to a great surprise the next day.

"UP AND READY RYDELL, TRAINING STARTS NOW."

The booming voice rattled through Hiccup's head over and over bouncing around in his ears as it exploded at his eardrums. Flashburn was standing over him as Hiccup's eyes opened wide and then he just walked towards the door. Hiccup heard a creak and assumed it was the door opening but saw no light.

"Wake up boy, ya got two minutes to get out 'ere or yer free to go somewhere else."

"Going, I'm going."

Hiccup got up and headed for the door. He and Flashburn were going to sleep in a small cabin large enough for them to sleep in and have a pot with which to cook. That was about all the space they had, and all they needed according to Flashburn. Hiccup opened the door and it was no lighter outside than there was inside.

"Yer a scrawny one so we're starting with your body. Swords come later, aint no use givin ya a sword if ya can't swing it. Try to keep goin as long I can, don't worry about matching pace yet."

"What?"

"Ya grow stupid o'ernight? Just do what I do as long I do."

"Um…alright then."

For Hiccup's first day of training he wasn't going to really remember much. According to Flashburn they had started the day off by running around the entirety of the mountain top for about an hour. Hiccup lasted the full hour but as soon as he was told the running was done with he fell flat on the ground. That was Hiccup's first day.

"Hm…boy never been this high has he beasties. Gotta be it, tougher movin around this high up, shoulda remembered that. There's always tomorrow. Look after him will ya beasties."

* * *

Hiccup had been running with Flashburn for four days now. It was the furthest he would make it every day before passing out. Flashburn tried to explain what he thought it was. According to him, the air changes more and more the higher up they get, at the height they were at now it was difficult to do more than breathe. Considering Flashburn had been up there for who knows how long he had no problem, Hiccup who had barely gotten there four days ago was going to continue having trouble for a while though. Almost a week into training, Hiccup was no longer fainting after running. He seemed to have started getting used to it. Admittedly Flashburn said that he should have stopped training Hiccup, but because he had made the fault of forgetting how difficult it was to get used to living at the top he would continue to help Hiccup, so long as he continued to improve. Over the course of the first few days Hiccup had started waking up earlier after losing his breath and becoming lightheaded.

"Boy, ya been 'ere a few days now. Feelin good after the runs yet?"

"Well I'm not quite as lightheaded anymore."

"Good, means yer bodys breathin better."

"I really didn't think this was something that could happen."

"Hmm…don't worry 'bout it much boy, happened to me too, give it a week or so.

"is that how long this happened to you?"

"Think so, memories from then are a bit hazy, long time ago."

* * *

With that Hiccup continued to train. At the dawn of the seventh day Hiccup was again awoken by the loud shrill of Flashburn screaming directly into his ear before he opened the door to the dark mountain top and walked out. Hiccup felt extremely different though, his body felt lighter than ever before but he almost felt as though he was suffocating. Hiccup got up and took a few steps, he was in a bit of a daze but could swear he was in a completely clear state of mind. He walked outside and looked around. His problems were starting to fade away, he felt a bit of a rush going through his body as he looked around and saw Flashburn staring off into the sky.

"Flashburn, I feel really weird, like I'm gonna pass out but it like I can almost fly or something."

"Ooh, that's it boy, give it a minute or two."

Flashburn walked over to Hiccup's side and slapped him on the back. Hiccup stumbled forward and almost fell to the ground but held his ground with only his legs and was now just bent over with knees bent. He shot up and turned around to face Flashburn."

"Looks like we can continue with the training now. Or start it. Let's go."

"Will I be ok?"

"Don't worry 'bout nothing now, start running."

Like every day prior Flashburn started off with a leisurely jog. Hiccup was following close behind him and started to pick up pace when Flashburn did so. After thirty minutes or so Flashburn and Hiccup were running in a full sprint and maintaining their speed. At this point in the run Flashburn would often turn around and run the opposite way around the edge of the mountain. After the run Hiccup walked closer to the middle of the mountain top and stood still. He didn't pass out this time though. He waited for five minutes, which was the most he'd ever lasted after a run, but continued to stand.

"Told ya boy."

"What happened? Why can I just stay awake now?"

"Yer body can finally breath, I said it before, ya go deaf or something?"

"My body can breathe?"

"I aint doing any more explainin, now let's keep going for the day. you have a long way to go."


	28. Chapter 28

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

**To make a long story short, school and sickness have plagued my last two weeks and left me a ragged mess. I'm on break now though, and not constantly feeling ill so I'll upload as much as i can. I apologize for not having been able to do anything for so long. Thanks for reading.**

* * *

Hiccup had spent nearly two years atop the mountain with his sword training master Flashburn. They had gotten along incredibly well over the two years, aside from some nearly deadly incidents every few weeks or so. During the first couple of months the biggest hurdle for Hiccup was just being able to make it through the whole day of training. It took a long and dreadful two months before doing that, and even after accomplishing it once Hiccup wasn't able to consistently follow Flashburn around for a long time. During that time Flashburn would take about his early days on the mountain and about having the exact problem Hiccup had. Flashburn would go on and on about trying all sorts of different breathing techniques, exercise methods, and exercise lengths to try to figure out what was making him feel so weak when he wanted to maintain his strength. Eventually Flashburn had noticed that the more the days went by the less he would pass out or collapse from exhaustion halfway through the day. Eventually just like Hiccup, Flashburn made it through a whole day and would continue to do so to the current day. He never figured out what it was but he did think it had to do with the mountain top. Since Flashburn had never figured out what it was that was affecting him his only advice for Hiccup was to keep pushing himself and not give up on the training.

Hiccup followed through with the training. Admittedly the first four months or so of not being able to make it through the day were very frustrating but the first time he made it was the first giant step forward. After that he kept improving until about five months in when he was mostly able to keep up with Flashburn. From that point on Flashburn split the daily exercise with sword training. The first day of this went a bit different to what Flashburn had originally planned. Hiccup had been making all sorts of errors that wound up nearly getting him killed half the time. Fortunately Hiccup would make one less mistake every day or every other day and after about the sixth months atop the mountain, Hiccup had learned the lowest level of basic techniques to sword fighting.

Flashburn and Hiccup continued their lessons after then and every few weeks or so Flashburn would increase the difficulty of the training so as to keep a good learning pace that would also be interesting. They had started off with stances and how to stop thinking about moving his feet and focusing more and getting a quick glimpse of an area and feeling out the area while moving. They moved on to wrist movements and methods of increasing flexibility so as to strengthen the grip on the sword as well as the number of ways Hiccup would be able to hold the sword in defensive or offensive situations. Hiccup and Flashburn would wake up every day and do simple exercises, Hiccup had almost learned the first few hours of every day by memory and would test himself by closing his eyes while running around.

Nine months into Hiccup's stay with Flashburn, it was deemed that they were done with the basics. Hiccup had passed the second part of his training according to Flashburn and would very soon be ready to start applying his skills into practice. Before that though Flashburn wanted Hiccup to start coming through with his end of the deal. For as long as it would take, Flashburn wanted to split each day into three parts, the first part of the day would remain as exercise time but after that they would go down to the swamp and start looking for a dragon Flashburn could tame and depending on how stubborn they were the sword training would get a few, a lot, or no hours of focus. Hiccup initially protested but quickly retracted his disappointment when Flashburn told him the training could end completely if he didn't keep up his end of the deal. Nine months into their relationship atop a mountain Hiccup would teach Flashburn how to train a dragon.

The first day they went searching for dragons was about as eventful as the time they spent walking up and down the stairs. The first day left them damp, annoyed and frustrated that they weren't able to so much as hear a dragon shriek or roar and definitely not come close to one to be able to tame it. The following week of this search for a dragon would leave the in almost the exact same place every time and it had started to wear down Flashburn. Each day they had gone out searching would wind up shorter and shorter, the searches would shorten down by a few minutes at first and by the end of a two week search they hardly spent more than an hour searching where they had started by searching for at least four hours at the start. Flashburn had eventually gotten to the point, after a month of searching, of deciding to not even go down the mountain anymore and would pick up the previous schedule of training Hiccup with swords. Hiccup felt a large amount of remorse though and decided to have his dragons help. He asked the three dragons if they could search in the surrounding area for a dragon that would be willing to work with Flashburn, they agreed and would start leaving each day as Hiccup started training. Hiccup and Flashburn went back to training, this time Flashburn decided Hiccup was a decent enough level to start sparring with Hiccup. They would only practice the basics for a few hours and end every day with a long, slow, exhausting spar session. Not even a day and half later though the three dragons returned with news that there was a dragon willing to befriend a human. Hiccup decided to inform Flashburn of the good news the next day rather than during the meal they were having. After hearing the news Flashburn said this would be the last time they tried to find a dragon, even if it was part of the deal.

On the way to the area where the supposed dragon was Hiccup asked how they were able to find any dragon at all when Flashburn and he weren't able to even find any tracks. Wodensfang said that most of the dragons actually lived in the deep waters in the area or were smaller dragons that wouldn't be spotted. Although very simple explanations Hiccup was still dumbfounded that he hadn't even thought to look in the water for dragons even though he had learned about dragons that lived almost exclusively in the water. The case for this dragon though was that its long body and specific coloring allowed it to blend into everything else. It also wasn't too aggressive for a dragon its size. Flashburn was nearly dying to know what sort of dragon it was that was able to live in the swamp and not be noticed even slightly. The dragon was an Breathquencher. From what Wodensfang told them, the dragon was actually quite large. This Breathquencher wasn't yet fully grown but could already extend to about 28 feet in length. The width of its body was nearly four feet as well and its large wingspan would extend to a little over 13 feet. The main color throughout the top part of his body and wings was a dark, mossy green. He had spots and short stripes of murky brown covering the green parts of his body. He had spikes from the tip of his nose to the tip of its tail, its tail was something to talk about having a very long and sharp stinger. Flashburn seemed to love the appearance of the dragon and after flying for a short five minutes they arrived at the spot where the Breathquencher said she would be waiting. They waited for a few seconds before hearing a tree crash to the ground behind them. The Breathquencher slithered up to them and coiled around as much as it could around all of them but left a large gap in front of them. Its head was to Flashburn's right with Hiccup standing at his left. After the dragons talked about whether the Breathquencher liked Flashburn of not Hiccup got a chance to chime in his own opinion. His ability to speak Dragonese put her at ease quickly and with some small encouragement for Flashburn to be a little submissive, the Breathquencher had no problem coming along with them to see if they could work well together.

Now that a dragon that was willing to work with Flashburn had presented itself they changed their schedule yet again. 10 and a half months into Hiccup's stay with Flashburn and both of them were finally starting to come through on their deal to help each other learn something new. Now the days would blend into weeks and eventually the weeks would turn into a few months. Flashburn and Countess, which is what the Breathquencher was named, had a rocky start to say the least nearly killing each other, by accident, within their first week of knowing each other. They began to bond though little by little and every little moment they had together put a smile on Hiccup's face as well, he was ecstatic to see somebody possibly share the same type of bond he had with his own dragons. By the time Flashburn was able to ride on Countess' back Hiccup had already spent a quick year learning how to fight. According to Flashburn he had a long way to go but was progressing at a pace that would put him at a very high level if he decided to stay another year. The decision, or lack of one, let Hiccup answer with ease that he would gladly stay another year, not only learn about sword fighting but to possible teach Flashburn even more things about dragons. His trip to the Archives would easily let him be a master level teacher as well as a student. Hiccup and Flashburn, at the start of their second year as teachers and students, began to make their own bonds as well.

Fourteen months into Hiccup's stay with Flashburn he had finally been able to both perfectly dodge and parry two attacks, not mentioning they were consecutive attacks as well. The progress stopped there for a while though as he was quickly reminded footing was an important factor and promptly fell flat on his back. The moment would stick with Hiccup though. He had been working with a master, and he was able to do something as amazing dodge and parry in a sequence of unrelenting slashes and stabs by a master. This lit a new fire in Hiccup that would help him progress faster than before, he wanted to prove to himself that his training was working and he wanted to be able to leave with his head held high.

Hiccup continued to make progress after his seventeen months training with Flashburn. He was learning that establishing a rhythm was both a good and bad thing. If thought out correctly and planned enough it would provide him with an easy time attacking his opponent but if the opponent figured out the pattern it could lead to a quick demise. Keeping this advice in mind Hiccup would formulate plans to attack with multiple patterns at different times in a fight depending on his positioning, if there was a large amount of space between him and his opponent and whether if he would have to approach his opponent.

Twenty months into their training put Hiccup at nearly an equal level with Flashburn, he had yet to beat Flashburn in a spar but was reaching a point where nearly all his losses were coming mostly from losing stamina and losing the long, drawn out fights. Hiccup had learned that his main strength came in outwitting his opponent early on in fight. He had been able to trick Flashburn a few times and disarm him and end a spar in less than ten minutes but if the spar lasted any longer than that Hiccup would have no real tricks to keep throwing out and was overwhelmed constantly and trying to gain footing. He knew he would have to work on being able to fight a long fight if he wanted to ever improve.

Twenty-one months into their training Hiccup had been able to start at least matching most of Flashburns assaults and sometimes managed to push him back. He had yet to be able to mount a seriously effective offensive strategy but often though that anything he came up with would be more than enough for an average person with a sword. He had almost become complacent with never being able to defeat a master that he was almost going to settle with almost losing. Flashburn threatened to end him right then though, Flashburn had never shown much emotion but seeing Hiccup just about give up enraged him to no end. He refused to train Hiccup for a week straight when he though all their training had been just so hiccup would stop trying to genuinely win. It didn't take Hiccup a week to realize this was something extremely important to Flashburn, but he did learn that Flashburn could throw a serious temper tantrum.

Twenty-three months into their training Hiccup had felt like he was nearly on equal footing with Flashburn. Every sparring session would go on for hours. Their feet would ache and scream for rest. Their bones would creak and groan from the unrelenting strain of constant force. Their lungs were burning with passion and desperation as they continued breathing deeper and heavier as they continued to fight with no end. Every day left them exhausted and ecstatic. Flashburn hadn't been able to push himself with full strength for decades now and the disciple he'd had for nearly two years was such a joy to have. Flashburn was going to miss this terrible pain, the bruises, and the wounds. They all hurt so much but were a sign of how great these past two years had been to him.

"So Rydell, you been here almost two years now."

"Yeah."

"Yer staying another month though? Make it a square two years full?"

"I think that'd be for the best. Might as well right?"

"Gon be a sad day when ya leave. Countess'll miss having them bozo dragons around."

"I'm sure they'll miss her too."

"Let's make the last month count."

"Absolutely."


	29. Chapter 29

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

Hiccup had disappeared a little over three years ago now. The tribe had made some enormous progress in that time. The meeting Stoick had gone to almost three years ago, shortly after Hiccup's disappearance was a large reason as to why the village had changed so much, it was there that the meetings of the archipelago chiefs had congregated to figure out their future. For centuries the Viking lifestyle had been focused around the dragon raids. Clothes, weapons, and status for Viking villagers were focused around killing dragons and making a name for oneself and that all stopped over three years ago. Among the people living at or constantly traveling to Berk there grew a legend about a boy who in death now protected the archipelago from dragon raids and would bring them their current prosperity. Nobody knew what had actually happened to Hiccup but as with many other traditions, the truth became a bit obscured the further it went on. Berkians knew the original story but didn't make a big deal out of telling it to people. After three years, Berk along with all the other islands had created a new lifestyle.

Almost three years ago when the chiefs had all met on they slowly came to the agreement that if they weren't spending their whole time fighting dragons they needed something else to do. It didn't necessarily have to be something violent but as long as there was some way for all the tribes to continue to live with each other it would be enough. They had come to the agreement that trading and providing services to each other through a trading post would probably be the best idea and then it was just a matter of choosing a location and who would be doing what. This matter was resolved quickly.

The tribes agreed that with the Hairy Hooligans living on Berk, which was just about in the perfect center of the archipelago, they would convert their island into the major trade island. Stoick was more than glad to take up the task and assured the other chiefs he would do his best to provide a great renovation to the village to accommodate all the people that would visit. The rest of the tribes would converse amongst themselves for a few days and come up with a way of deciding which tribe would sell what sort of items. They agreed to meet in a few more months when everything had been decided and with that Stoick left the meeting.

After returning to Berk Stoick held a few meetings over the course of the week to be able to explain to everybody about what was going to happen, and for the most part people were fine with the new direction. Some people were actually relieved something like this was going to be done, everything had slowed down almost to a complete halt and with news of converting Berk to a giant trade post there was news that people would have jobs again.

The first step in turning the island into a large trade post was creating a huge new section for all sorts of buildings and the first step in doing that was gathering wood. For the months before Stoick was to reconvene with the other chiefs almost every day there were Vikings heading into further and further away from the original village edge and into the forest to cut down the giant trees. Months went by where the island was slowly being deforested to make way as well as provide materials for the new construction that was to happen. When it was deemed there was enough wood to work with the island had been cut down from nearly completely forest to a little over half being a lush forest. The building process started the day before Stoick went to talk with the other chiefs and would last for another few months. The other chiefs were pleased with the news and said they would expect Berk to welcome travelers and traders in a few months. Admittedly Stoick agreed to the time limit before knowing how much progress had been made or how much was needed to be made but trusted his village to meet expectations, and was right in doing so. The largest trade post in the archipelago was established almost a year after Hiccup's disappearance and would continue to prosper until today, three years and three weeks after the young Vikings vanishing.

* * *

Stoick woke up and prepared for another day of chiefly duties. He walked out the door and was happy to be greeted by the two teens most helpful since Hiccup's departure.

"Morning Astrid, Fishlegs."

"Good Morning Sir."

"Morning Chief Stoick."

"You two got everything I need from ya?"

"Right here Sir." Fishlegs pulled out a stack of papers from the bag he had slung around his shoulder. He kept everything he needed on a daily basis in this bag.

"Every report here Fishlegs?"

"Well I went to pick up the twins report but nobody's seen them since yesterday."

"The twins again…Well make sure you get their report, can't make sure the village is doing well until we get everybody's reports."

"Understood Sir." Fishlegs started to walk off before being called back.

"Fishlegs wait." Astrid called out to him.

"I think the twins went out to get more supplies. I talked to them a few days ago and they were talking about needing to go out soon. I don't think they'll be back for a few more days."

"Good job Astrid. Alright Fishlegs, looks like you're fine for a few days."

"Thanks Astrid. Thank you Sir. I'll be off then."

"See ya later Fishlegs."

"Got anything to report Astrid? Anything been goin on in the past week?"

"Nothing major Chief. A few troublemakers but nothing that couldn't be dealt with immediately."

"Good to know. Snotlout been doin good?"

"He's been great actually. I think he's finally settled down."

"Even better. Alright then, I'll be doing my rounds for the day, you can be at ease then."

"Have a good day Chief." With that Astrid walked towards the newer part of the village.

* * *

Stoick started walking down the hill to the older houses. He walked through the village checking in the shops as he walked by. Berk had become the biggest island for trading and selling with people from every corner of the archipelago coming, not just from the major tribes. He would walk through the town to get a view for himself on how well everybody was doing in terms of sales and health. If he came across any sort of dispute he would take the time to get each side to come to an agreement that was satisfactory to them and eventually continue on his way. Occasionally he would stop by Gobber's smith and see what his old friend was working on for the day. The time to make serious battle weapons had passed by but Gobber still had a prospering business making show weapons. These weapons looked a lot sharper and had a more elegant design to them. They were meant to be a sort of treasure for a family, they were meant more than anything else to be something that showed the family's wealth or heritage. It wasn't quite as exhilarating as making weapons to chop off a dragons head but he enjoyed it, even without Hiccup around to make it a bit more lighthearted day to day.

"Hey Chief"

Stoick turned around to see his nephew calling out to him.

"Snotlout, how have you been boy? Astrid says you're doing a good job."

"Thanks Chief. I've been great, I know it took me a long time to do this but I think I get it now. I guess I understand why you picked Astrid as the next chief."

"Good to hear it boy."

"I'm gonna show you why I…"

The massive horn Berk used as an alarm went off at full blast. The alarm that hadn't been sounded off in over three years went off. The thunderous blast of sound echoed through the village shaking some of the less well constructed buildings and possibly deafened the people walking along the edge of the village closer to the horn. Stoick looked to the skies immediately and just as quickly as he looked up he was knocked to the ground. The shop he was standing in front of exploded, wood flew over Stoick and was embedded into the surrounding buildings. Flames engulfed the business, the flames rose and devoured the roof and began to spread to the shops beside it.

"SNOTLOUT, ALERT ALL THE PATROLS. GET EVERYONE TO THE CAVES."

"Understood Sir." Snotlout dashed off avoiding debris flying over his head.

Stoick rushed inside the building and began shouting to see if anybody was inside. The only thing he could hear were the crackling flames surrounding him as they burnt everything to ashes. He ran outside and went into the shop on the left. Again he shouted and waited. He heard nothing in this shop either. He heard a deafening boom and was thrown to the floor. His vision went blurry and he had trouble moving. He struggled to get to his knees and barely managed to stand while using a wall as support. He looked around and saw nothing but smoke, he looked up and saw sunlight. The roof had been torn off by some powerful explosion. Stoick stumbled outside. He was almost choking from the smoke, coughing and wheezing trying to get any sort of breathable air into his lungs. He fell once more but only was at least able to fall on his hands and knees. He took a minute to regain his full consciousness and proceeded towards the third building. He heard agonizing screams from everywhere, they were crying out in behind him, there was shouts of desperation above him, Stoick didn't know if the blow to the head had made him crazy or if they were real. He just knew he had to get to his people, he had to help his people.

Stoick rushed up the hill, he passed a few security Vikings on his way and had them follow him up there. Fortunately every Viking he passed on the way there reported the same thing, all normal citizens had safely made it to the caves. Stoick and the small army of Vikings and Shield maidens made it to the top of the hill and overlooked the lower part of the village. They were lucky to spot at most three buildings that weren't engulfed in flames. They looked to the newer section of the village. There was a wall of fire, nothing could be seen past this giant, violent, burning wall of destruction. Roars rang out above them, roars threatening to end them and everyone nearby, roars signaled the start of a terrible raid, roars from dragons.

Stoick stood on top of a larger piece of debris. Stoick looked at the dragons, he looked to his people. Stoick thought about three years ago and began to speak.

"It's been a mighty long time since these beasts dared to show themselves."

The warriors looked up at their chief, they looked up with hope.

"It's been a mighty long time since we've had to do any real fighting."

Everybody tightened their hands a little tighter with each word he spoke.

"That doesn't mean we don't know what we need to do. We'll pick up the arms we used to bear with pride and we'll stand together. We'll pick up our pride as Vikings shove it in the faces of these mindless killing machines. Today we return to the traditions of our ancestors and we fight dragons, we kill dragons, we defend our homes."

There was a roar of Viking pride. Each and every Viking standing on top of the hill was more than ready to do what they felt they were born to do, each and every Viking was more than ready to pick up their favorite weapon and strike deep into a dragon's flesh. They wanted to.


	30. Chapter 30

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

For two years Hiccup had been training with Flashburn. Hiccup had gotten in much better shape throughout that time, at least in a shape that would let him fight for long periods of time. According to Flashburn the most important part of the training was always stamina, everything Flashburn taught Hiccup, every exercise and technique and stance was for the purpose of preserving stamina or increasing it. Getting tired part way through any fight would be a deadly problem and the best way to make sure Hiccup never got tired was to provide him with a regiment that let him continuously fight while using minimal strength, the best method of preserving stamina was the method a younger, weaker Flashburn had used. For two years Hiccup had done almost nothing but improve his stamina and made sure his skill were up to par.

For the last week of Hiccup's training Flashburn was taking it a lot lighter than usual, they spent about half as much time doing any of their previous work and spent most of the day talking about anything that came to mind. The main thing, and this was a topic that had popped up before, was a method that combined dragon riding with sword fighting. Flashburn would always talk about how dragon riding would open up a whole new world for the possibilities of a well-trained swordsman but nothing had really been done to take a step towards it, until the last week of Hiccup's stay there. The last day brought a rude awakening top Hiccup. Hiccup woke up on the dawn of the last day he would spend training under Flashburn.

"BOY. YA READY? YA GOT YER FINAL STEP IN TRAINING RIGHT NOW."

Hiccup shot up from his sleep and almost jumped out of bed. He put on his vest and ran outside with his trusty Stormblade in hand. He'd been using this sword since Flashburn started actually training him and would have it by his side every day. Before he reached for the door however a piece of paper fell out from the grip of the sword. Hiccup looked at the grip to try to see where the paper could have fallen out from and noticed the leather had started ripping in enough areas and with enough width that the paper fell through one of the holes. He bent down to pick up the paper and took read what were probably instructions.

_From Grimbeard the Ghastly, _

_I traveled through the whole of the archipelago and beyond. I fought through the whole of the archipelago and beyond. I took more than my fair share of treasure and did it all with this trusty sword. It's never failed me and it's always made my signature strike a success. I leave the sword and these instructions to the brave soul who finds it. Ain't no other treasure for you to spend time wasting looking for. This is it. Good luck on your travels._

Hiccup was more than surprised to find this note in the grip of the sword he's had for three years. The instructions for a technique Grimbeard developed himself. It was a very complex and drawn out serious of assaults that were guaranteed to defeat any opponent if executed correctly. Hicup read through the instructions repeatedly, he wanted to have his last day with Flashburn end in the greatest possible way and what better way than to take his first victory in a spar using a technique nobody else knew.

"DIDN'T 'EAR ME THE FIRST TIME BOY? COME ON OUT."

"I'm going, I'm going."

Hiccup stuffed the paper messily back into the leather grip. He gripped his sword tighter than he'd ever gripped it before and pushed open the door. He saw Flashburn standing far out in the middle of the mountain top wielding two swords. Normally during their sparring sessions Flashburn had only ever used one sword. This came as a small surprise to Hiccup, there was always something off about the way Flashburn moved and it was now clear. Flashburn always moved as though he was wielding two swords, he wouldn't show it out right but in every session he always put a little more strength into his offhand than he explained he should. Hiccup figured out that it was something Flashburn planned on saving until the very last day, today, so as to provide a little more tension to their spar. Their final spar. Hiccup didn't have much experience dual-wielding, he did have some as he would try it out in secret so as to someday surprise Flashburn but he wasn't too confident. He'd only ever used one of the small daggers he'd brought along when first fleeing from Berk. There was nothing to lose though, it was going probably the only time he'd get to try out his skills against someone of such a high caliber and he was in no position to hold back.

Flashburn wasted no time in leaping forward at Hiccup bringing down his left sword with a strong slice. Hiccup met the blade with his small dagger high above his head and tried to push it off to the side and make an opening for himself. Flashburn let his blade slowly fall to the side and thrust his main hand sword straight at Hiccup, Flashburn was not going to hold anything back and this pinpoint thrust at Hiccup's lung was a show of strength. Hiccup stuck his Stormblade out and began twisting his arm and blade around Flashburn's sword. Hiccup bent his elbow and pushed his blade as well as Flashburn's up so that it was angled more towards Hiccup's face. Hiccup didn't let Flashburn go though and kept their arms intertwined so as to keep him locked in place. Flashburn kicked Hiccup's leg and almost caused him to fall forward but was able to catch himself and toss his body backwards, although this would also free up Flashburn to do whatever he wanted since their arms were now free. Flashburn walked forward slowly with the blades off to his side, as he got closer he brought the blades to his front with the left hand brought further away from his body and closer to Hiccup. When Flashburn got within striking distance he thrust forward the left blade, Hiccup turned his body sideways and leaned away from the blade to dodge it by a wide margin. Flashburn let his right handed blade scratch at the ground as it came roaring up at Hiccup's neck. Hiccup put his arm out far away from his body letting the blade point towards the ground and met with Flashburn's rising cut. Flashburn's sword scraped against the Stormblade and rode its edge up and away from Hiccup's body. Hiccup cut away from his body and threw Flashburn's sword away with enough force that Flashburn's right hand was disarmed. Flashburn drew his left hand sword back took a step forward with his right foot and lifted up his left leg and kicked Hiccup on the side of his abdomen. Hiccup stumbled to the side clutching his side with the hand holding the dagger being careful not to stab himself.

"You are really going all out aren't you Flashburn?"

"Course I am boy, ya think I wouldn't do this seriously?"

"So you were never serious before?"

Flashburn walked over to where his previously disarmed sword had landed.

"I was tougher on ya as we kept going. Can't exactly beat yer ass from day one can I?"

"That makes me feel soooo much better."

"Shut yer trap and c'mere. I ain't done yet."

Flashburn came at Hiccup with both swords held above his head. Hiccup took a step backwards and was chased down, Flashburn started to bring both swords down with full force. There was a screeching clank as the Stormblade hated both swords and was supported by the small dagger Hiccup still had in his off hand. Hiccup pushed up against Flashburn while also angling his sword to his side. Flashburn's weapons slid down the edge with a trail of sparks flaring behind them. The swords were retracted before they made their full journey and Flashburn took a few steps back. Hiccup wanted to go on the offensive for once.

Hiccup threw his dagger, he wanted that dagger to sink deep into Flashburn's shoulder and use it as a cover for the start of his own assault. Flashburn struck the dagger out of the air with his right sword and was left with his arm crossing down diagonally from his shoulder to his left hip. Hiccup had dashed forward the small distance and pulled his sword back just enough to be able to put all his weight into a swift thrust. Flashburn brought his right sword up to meet the bottom of the Stormblade. He turned his body to let the sword pass in front of him and brought his left arm up. Hiccup's arm was straightened out in front of Flashburn. Flashburn gripped clamped Hiccup's arm between his left, squeezing it down with the area close to his elbow. He used his right elbow to crush Hiccup's abdomen and then pushed Hiccup's arm away, once it was a few inches away Flashburn squeezed into Hiccup's chest and pushed him away with his forearms. Hiccup began to fall back and thinking he would land on his back turned his body to the side and caught himself with his right hand, he kicked with his left leg and struck Flashburn in his right leg. Hiccup put as much strength as he could into the kick and kept pushing into Flashburn's leg completely sweeping it off the ground and far away from the man. Flashburn fell flat on the ground and let out a painful groan as he slammed into the tough rock. Hiccup was balance on his two legs and right hand. He pushed himself up and spun around as fast as he could, catching Flashburn trying to roll over to also pick himself up. Flashburn rolled onto his stomach and planted his hands on the ground by his shoulders. Hiccup slammed his Stormblade into the ground right by Flashburn's head, sinking the tip of the sword into the rock and letting it stand there on its own. In a real fight Hiccup would have been able to slip the sword straight through any Viking's skull and possibly still stab deep into the earth.

"Ya got me boy."

"Really? I really won?"

"I wouldn't be alive if I wasn't yer teacher. I know that."

Flashburn pushed his upper body off the ground and rested on his knees for a seconds. He placed a hand on the ground and planted his feet to start standing up.

"Well…I…I don't know…"

"Ya did good boy. I don't know when last I was pushed to such an extreme."

"Thanks. A lot. You really taught me well."

"I know I did boy, I'm Flashburn, greatest swordfighter in the archipelago."

"Thank Odin I didn't have to try that weird technique."

"What technique? Ya saying I taught ya something stupid? Boy don't try me."

"No, nononono. This, this, look at it."

Hiccup pulled the piece of paper from the Stormblade's grip. He handed it to Flashburn. As Flashburn read through it Hiccup could see his eye widen a bit more with each line he read. He came to the end of the instructions and slowly put the paper down. He held the paper tightly in front of his heart. He looked slightly down at Hiccup in the eyes.

"Be careful with this technique boy. This is one the greatest things you can ever learn. Ya master this and every time will be a kill. Ya need perfection."

"Is it that complex?"

"Boy this move has been almost nothing but a legend since before I was born. I know you can learn it though. I won't bother, no point learning something like that for me. I can get to killing thousands o' other ways."

Flashburn let out a hearty laugh. Then he coughed and tried to catch his breath. Hiccup let a small smirk show on his face as he watched his mentor of two years choke up.

"Well boy, it's still early enough in the morning. Ya wanna get a move on I say you can still make good time no matter where ya go."

"Thanks…Sir."

"Ya gonna tell me yer real name before ya go though?"

"Wh-what do y-you mean my r-real name…I'm…"

"C'mon boy. Ya don't get to my age and be fooled by a boy yer age."

"…"

"Ya don't trust yer teacher?"

"I'm Hiccup Horrendous haddock III."

"Hiccup eh? Weird name. Fits you loads better than Rydell though. Maybe not after this improvement. Nope, never mind, Hiccup's perfect."

"Thanks a lot, real encouraging."

"Ya changed a lot since ya got 'ere Hiccup. The scrawny, scared lil boy asking me to teach him is gone. Ya grew a good foot or two, ya definitely a lot sturdier now, and ya got the skills and heart of a true swordsman."

"Thanks Flashburn. It means a lot."

"Now get goin. Goodbye Hiccup."

"Goodbye Flashburn."

Flashburn gripped Hiccup's hand, he gripped it as tight as he could and shook it with respect. Hiccup looked over his shoulder once as he walked away from the mountain top and down the stone stairs he'd ventured countless times.


	31. Chapter 31

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

Hiccup, Toothless, One-Eye and Wodensfang left Flashburn's mountain at about mid-day. They made their way down the mountain for the last time and would reach the bottom in a much faster time than the first time they did so. Admittedly they would all be a little melancholy about leaving, Hiccup had come to have great respect for his teacher and loved to be able to learn from him, Toothless and One-Eye had gotten to know Countess the Breathquencher very well and learned a lot about acid spitting dragons from her. Their knowledge on the matter was a great help to Hiccup as well. The Archives didn't have a tremendous amount of books covering dragons that spit acid, it may have just been that they were a lot more reclusive than other dragons and thus were more difficult to study, or even locate.

Toothless and One-Eye had been flying for about two days straight after they left the mountain, Toothless had made these kinds of flight several times while with Hiccup and was more than accustomed to it. Hiccup himself had some trouble staying awake for so long but was doing fine enough that he could hold onto the reins and focus on their surroundings, provided they weren't too high up. One-Eye on the other hand had begun experiencing trouble even maintaining a stable flight course and had all but stopped flapping his wings at this point. They quickly agreed it would be for everyone's best interest if they touched down for at least a few hours to regain their composure and rest up.

Being from the freezing, windy mountains One-Eye never did a huge amount of flying, it was something he did know how to do and with ease but was never required to fly more than a few minutes. One-Eye was never used to making these long treks through the air with no real thought of stopping for days at a time and certainly wasn't used to flying in an environment that would make most other dragons fall out of the sky from the cold. The several new experiences had a huge tax on his body , even being able to persevere for almost a full day there was a limit to the bulky, prideful dragon could pushing himself and the limit was just under two days.

They had flown out of the swamplands a few hours into the start of their journey and had passed almost nothing but typical archipelago forests with tall, thick leaved trees. They were now approaching the bottom of the map Hiccup had brought along when he first left Berk. The map showed a mountain range along nearly the entire bottom edge of the archipelago and after two straight days of flying and almost half a day of walking the mountains were clearly in sight. Hiccup wondered if they would still be able to take a short rest and reach the base of the mountain range before nightfall. one-Eye claimed he would have no problem continuing to walk so long as they were able to rest once they did arrive at the base, Toothless shared his agreement and Hiccup had no problem with continuing if his dragons were up to it.

The group of four were able to reach the base of the mountains when the sun had just started to go down and decided to walk a little further to be able to camp out in the mountains and possibly be a little safer with cover on all sides. They continued walking until dusk, it was a slightly more difficult walk than their trek through the forest, there was a constant incline as they walked further into the mountains and by the time they stopped they were able to catch a glimpse through the mountains and view the treetops far behind them. They decided to camp out for the night and made a meal of the fish they gathered in the swamp, One-Eye and Toothless flew off back to the forest though in search of possible larger meals while Wodensfang was satisfied eating with Hiccup.

"You've really come a long way Master."

"Yeah, we've traveled for so long it feels like I've always been doing this."

"Well yes, but I meant as a Hiccup, you've really come to make your ancestors proud. I'm sure of it."

"You think so Woden?"

"Definitely Master. You've acquired so much of their knowledge and shared so much of their will and determination."

"Well, I had to inherit something from somebody. Thor sure didn't make me anything like my dad."

"I'd say that was a good thing Master, you would never have become the person you are now if you were born the typical stubborn, angry Viking."

"I guess you're right. You know anything about whats past this mountain range by the way? Did you travel far with Grimbeard?"

"I never really accompanied Grimbeard. The main reason I had to follow him…"

"Back Hiccup."

"We've returned Hiccup."

"Hey Toothless, One-Eye. Found a good meal I assume?"

"I found a river, I ate a lot of fish." Toothless said with an odd toothless grin.

"I was able to find a flock of those thick woolen animals."

"Sounds like a good meal to me. It's also dark out now. What say we get to sleep? Don't know how much we'll be traveling each day. It'd be a good idea to rest when we can."

"Very well Master."

"Night Hiccup."

"Good night Hiccup."

* * *

The group woke up the next morning feeling fine and refreshed. They decided to walk a little further into the mountains, depending on how their walk went and whether they would see any end to the mountains the group decided to continue walking or begin flying once again. What they found after walking for ten minutes was a wasteland. Yes they had come to the end of the mountain range, and they were rather high up as the incline through the range continued the whole way through, and they were now looking out on a giant oddly colored wasteland. There was sand floating in the air, so much sand that there was probably more sand than air, at least it seemed that way. The amount of sand in the air was easily equivalent to the snowfall present throughout the year on Berk, and from the minute Hiccup looked on into the wasteland the minor sandstorm did not let up anywhere in sight. Hiccup couldn't see too far into the wasteland. What he could see was the ground, it was a weird orange colored stone spreading for the short distance Hiccup could see. The stone wasn't just orange though, there were some spots much lighter in color, the sand or dust in the air that would settle on the stone gave the little visible area a predominantly orange color but some spots looked almost red and Hiccup swore there were areas were the stone was sparkling.

"What is this place?"

"I wish I knew Master."

"What's all the dust doing in the air?"

"No idea Toothless."

"What are we to do now Hiccup? Do you want to continue south?"

"Well I don't want to go back the way we came. Going by the map, if we go west from here it's the Murderous tribe and I'd rather stay away from them. Let's go east."

"Sounds good Hiccup."

"Very Well Master."

* * *

The group started walking on the high cliff edge overlooking the orange rock far below them. They would walk during the day and only fly for almost four hours the first day of their mountain hike. At night they settled down at whatever spot they were at when the sun had completely set. Toothless and One-Eye were still able to fly into a small section of forest and scavenge for food while Hiccup and Wodensfang ate rations they had brought along from Flashburn's mountain. As Hiccup sat by a small fire he had started up he looked around to try and find something of interest, there was nothing in the boulders surrounding him or in the stone path they had taken from what he could see. He looked up the route they were probably going to take tomorrow and he caught a small glimmer of something in the ground. He blinked a few times and looked away from the object then looked back and it was still there. Hiccup stood up and walked over to the glimmering thing, he bent down and tried to pick it up but it was embedded strongly in the rock. He went back to the campsite and rummaged through his bag hoping he had brought along some tool that could help him. He hadn't brought anything that could outright be used to dig something up, but he decided to use the dagger he had been using as a possible way of digging it up. By now Wodensfang had noticed him walk to the spot twice and flew over and landed on Hiccup's shoulder as he was stabbing at the ground around the shiny object.

"Have you found something Master?"

"Yeah but I can't get it out."

"Let me take a look Master, perhaps I can be of use."

"Hope you're better at digging than I am."

Hiccup put his dagger off to the side and sat back as Wodensfang slithered around the shiny thing. He circled it once and stared at it for a few seconds before slowly clawing at the object. Wodensfang was slowly tearing up the rock surrounding the object and revealed there was a lot more to the thing than they first noticed. at this time they heard a pair of large thuds a few feet away. Hiccup turned around to see his two larger friends had returned from hunting.

"Had a good meal you two?"

"Wonderful Hiccup."

"It was great, we found some more sheep."

"Sounds great."

"So what's Woden doing?"

"He's helping me. I saw something shining in the ground here and we're trying to get it out."

"Ooh, what is it. Is it something cool?"

"We don't know yet Toothless."

"If it's something embedded in the rock, I believe I can be of use Hiccup."

"Oh yeah, you can crush boulders bigger than me easily huh."

"It's not as easy as you think but yes."

"Woden, mind letting One-Eye give it a shot."

Wodensfang backed away from the shiny object and looked around him. he was breathing rather heavily and squirming.

"No…problem…Master."

"Tired huh? Come on, you can rest for the night."

"Thank…you…Master."

Hiccup picked up Wodensfang and stood up himself as he did so. He place Wodensfang inside his shirt, where he usually was, and had One-Eye walk over to where he was. Hiccup pointed at the source of the glimmer.

"That thing." Hiccup said as he pointed down.

"It's so small. Should be of no worry."

One-Eye lifted himself onto his hind legs and crashed down onto the spot, destroying the ground beneath his front claws. He sunk his claws into the stone as much as he could and started crushing the rock he could hold between his claws. He pulled up his claws with multiple swipes ripped up the stone. He left a small crater of pebbles and dust where the object used to be.

"Well I didn't think you'd try that much."

"I hope it's alright. My apologies Hiccup."

"Nah, its fine. Let's just try to find the thing.

Hiccup dug through the hole about the size of Toothless' head, tossing aside small rocks and pebbles, shifting through some dust as well. Hiccup was digging for three minutes when he found the shining object again. He held it in his hand, it wasn't huge but he couldn't hold it easily with one hand alone. It was a jewel of some kind, Hiccup had never seen a jewel like this.

"Well…let's go to sleep for now. We'll talk about it in the morning maybe."

"Can I hold it?"

"Sure Toothless, just don't lose it overnight."

"Of course I won't. Night."

"Night Toothless, Night One-Eye."

"Good night Hiccup."

* * *

The group woke up in the morning. Toothless still had the jewel under his paws and was a little sad when he had to let it go for Hiccup to be able to take it back. Wodensfang had been the last to wake up and by the time the others were standing, still half asleep, and ready to walk he came up out of Hiccup's shirt. He popped up and climbed up to coil himself around Hiccup's neck and rest on his shoulders. Hiccup was taking the jewel from Toothless as this happened and Wodensfang let out a slight screech."

"Amber, that's amber."

"Amber? What are you talking about Woden."

"The object Master, it's the jewel amber. That means these are the Amber Slavelands.

"Amber what now?"

"Ok really, Woden. Explain yourself a litte."

"Ok. What you're holding Master, that's a jewel called amber. It's a precious, and in these lands abundant, jewel. Grimbeard came here later in his life and mined up a whole lot of it to take. These lands, everything covered in the dust storm, everything sitting on the orange stone below the cliff, these are the Amber Slavelands. Grimbeared didn't talk a lot about his time here but he did make it known he had been here."

"So why are they called the Amber Slavelands?"

"Harsh name if you ask me."

"Harsh indeed Toothless."

"Well it's not the most complicated reason. There's a lot of amber and a lot of slaves to mine the amber."

"That's it?"

"Yes. I told you Master, not the most complicated name."

"Ok but we didn't see anybody. Are they on the other side or what?"

"There's a kingdom. It's on the far east end of the slavelands. That's where everybody is, slaves and citizens alike."

"Guess we know where we're going."

"You want to go there Hiccup?"

"We don't even know how big the place is."

"Well we can't leave the poor slaves can we? What if they were enslaving dragons?"

"I get it…alright lets go."

"How are we to deal with them once we arrive? From what you've said, an execution seems right."

"Well try not to kill them."

"And if we can't hold back Hiccup?"

"Just try One-Eye."

"Very well Hiccup, but no promises, especially if the situation becomes too dangerous."

"Alright then. Woden, do we keep going east then?"

"Yes Master, to the very end."

"Looks like we have a destination. To free the slaves."


	32. Chapter 32

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

Hiccup was riding on Toothless' back again. They started flying the morning after they discovered the amber. This area was even harsher on One-Eye so they needed to take a break during the day, and their nights were usually spent only sleeping so after flying for 3 days they were starting to wonder how large this land of dirt and dust storms was.

"So Woden."

"Yes Master?"

"Can you tell us how the slaves are treated here?"

"Well it seems this was a very touchy subject for Grimbeard. He was supposed to be the strongest man in the land and yet he had been captured. He didn't speak about it often but would mumble in his sleep of the terrible conditions."

"The greatest viking that ever lived had nightmares?"

"It seemed so Master. They were far between but very vivid to him."

"So do you remember what he was talking about during them?"

"I remember quite a bit. A few terrible things. They were kept in underground dungeons beneath the city. They would have to toil away and carve rock out and make even larger cells and deeper tunnels to keep more slaves. Or they had to spend all day beneath the sun, wading through the sand and dirt searching for anything that could be of value to the kingdom. They would strapped to each other with metal chains. A group of four would be chained together and had to talk around, work, eat or do anything else while wearing those shackles and they were only removed when every one of them was returned to the dungeons.

"This already sounds terrible. They're treated like animals."

"That was usually what he groaned about. There was rarely anything else I heard about.

"I think we've arrived at our destination."

"You see something One-Eye?"

"To the right. There's a large tower reaching high above the ground."

"Nice job One-Eye. Well its also pretty early in the day."

"I see people on the ground."

"Really Toothless?"

"Yeah, take a close look."

"I can't really see that far down. Woden, One-Eye is he right?"

"I see a lot of people walking around Hiccup."

"As do I Master."

"Good eye Toothless."

"Of course I have good eyes. Can't believe you didn't trust me."

"I guess we should land then. Let's stay in the mountains though, I wanna make sure we know how they're spending their people's time."

Toothless and One-Eye began their descent. They had been sticking to flying over the mountains or at the very edge of them in order to be able to possible spot anyone they thought could be with the slave empire or any structures that might belong to the slave empire. Now after a few days of traveling they had a full view of what they had been searching for.

"So Woden, is that tower the one you think Grimbeard was talking about?"

"Grimbeard would mumble about the spiral. The spiral of the king. I can't say for sure that's it with so much sand in the air obstructing our view."

"So we just need to get a close look?"

"Well that is true Master. It would be too dangerous to get closer at this time though."

"If I can't see the people at the bottom, on the ground, me and Toothless should be fine. What do you say buddy?"

"Sounds great."

"Alright. Ok Woden, you stay here with One-Eye. One-Eye, keep an eye on the people down there. We'll be back as soon as we can."

"Good luck Master."

"I'll await your return."

Hiccup and Toothless took off back into the skies. They climbed to a high enough altitude that Hiccup barely make out the shady figures of his two other dragons and figured that was more than high enough off the ground that nobody would be able to notice him. Toothless took off as fast as he could towards the tower, it'd been a long time since he could fly so freely without much worry. Toothless rolled and zipped around in the air for a few minutes. He loop de looped a few times to stretch out his wings more and zoomed towards the tower. They reached it in a minute and started to hover around it. Toothless got as close as he could without touching it to let Hiccup get as good of a look as he could, Hiccup examined the tower as Toothless was hovering and circling around it. There were grooves and marks around the whole thing that showed it definitely had a pattern to the way it was built and the same patterns were leading them up. Hiccup had Toothless start to slowly circle and climb with the mountain and before they had reached to close to the top Hiccup was sure the tower was spiraling, he had been able to keep track of a particular series of shapes that led up and around the tower. They started to head back when they heard a loud boom coming from the distance. It was in the opposite direction that One-Eye and Wodensfang were waiting so Hiccup had to think quickly, risk heading there with only Toothless or head back to his other two dragons and possibly completely miss the point of the ruckus.

"Let's go Toothless, towards the boom."

"Awesome. Hold on."

Toothless flapped his wings with as much force as he could to get a good start towards the sound that erupted from the other side of the town. They had flown for not even ten seconds when they heard a loud horn blast, they kept searching for anything weird but after a few minutes found nothing. They decided to head back after they're search proved useless. One-Eye saw them coming back and flew up to meet them.

"Are you injured Hiccup? Did you see the cause of the explosion? Why didn't…"

"Woah One-Eye. One question at a time. That's definitely a spiral tower by the way."

"If that is the spiral tower then this is certainly the kingdom Grimbeard was captured by. It doesn't look as grand as I thought it would though."

"Yeah, flying over it we saw it's actually not that big."

"There's a lot of people though."

"Is that so Toothless? Master did you notice anything yourself?"

"Are we not to mention the boom in the distance?"

"One-Eye's right."

"Thank you Hiccup."

"But we didn't get to see anything."

"…well then."

"So did you guys notice anything?"

"There seems to be a limit to where the slaves are diggind. There are small towers throughout the land and they seem to form a line around the city from what we can see here."

"The slaves don't stray too far from that line and when that boom was heard, we heard some sort of alarm almost immediately after. It seems Master, this is a normal occurrence."

"So there's a boom, the alarm, what about the people?"

"They rush towards the gates Master."

"The guards watching over them let them in and rush in along with them."

"Ok then. Well let's see if they come back out today. If not then we just take a day off."

The dragons took turns keeping watch over the area they could clearly see. If the whole town was the same then there was a wall that would go around the whole of it and possibly only had openings for entrance and exit in four areas, those being the areas that led north, south, east and west. The wall looked to be approximately twenty feet high, maybe more or less since the distance and sand blurred their vision quite a bit even if they did have dragon eyes. For the rest of the day the walls and gates were left completely alone, nobody came back out and eventually the sky turned dark and was filled with stars.

* * *

The group went to sleep and it was a perfectly peaceful night. In the morning Wodensfang was the first to wake up. He crawled out from within Hiccup's shirt where he always is and glided over to the edge of the cliff overlooking the land below them and more importantly the kingdom. He looked down to see there were already people out digging in the sand and jumped back to wake up everybody else, admittedly he had no success by simply clawing and jumping around but as soon as he started letting out small cindered breaths Hiccup jumped to his feet and stood straight up. Hiccup woke up Toothless and One-Eye and they looked to Wodensfang to ask why he had to wake them up. He pointed to the edge of the cliff and Toothless and One-Eye went over to look down. They told Hiccup what was happening and began to talk about what they were going to do.

They decided to do another day of scouting just to get a firm grasp on what was going on and possibly form a plan to free everyone, or if necessary maybe take down the kingdom if they thought of a clever enough way to do it. Hiccup spent the day reading the books he had slavaged from the Archives while the dragons took turns watching over the slaves and going hunting for food, their rotations were a lot longer this time because they had to fly for a few hours before coming across something they could eat. Toothless and One-Eye were out hunting first and had been gone for a little over an hour when something familiar happened. There was another thundering noise but this seemed different to the one from yesterday, it sounded like a roar. It was a loud and terrifying roar that caused the sandstorm to become even heavier and in turn disrupted Wodensfang sight enough that he couldn't tell what was going on. The alarm from yesterday went off the moment the sandstorm kicked up with the roar and from what Wodensfang could barely hear everybody was rushing to get indoors but maybe a person or two wasn't quick enough. After a few minutes the dust settled back to its normal but still heavy storm and there was nothing to see, other than a hole left in the ground that was more than likely left by the thing that was attacking the kingdom. Wodensfang and Hiccup weren't able to do anything and simply waited for their friends to return.

"Well Master, it seems that thing is going to cause problems if we try to free anybody."

"Yeah, even if we do free everybody that thing will just pop up. We need to know more about it."

"How do we go about doing that Master?"

"This is a kingdom right? There should be a king that's knowledgeable on the matter."

"Always one to go head first into a matter aren't you Master?"

"Well I still need to wait for Toothless to come back but yeah."

The two waited for the larger dragons to return and tell them everything. The scouting was easily over and with the two dragons educated on the current state of the people it was an easy choice to do something about it. They decided to first learn more about the thing though and that should give them a better chance of doing anything else while they were here.


	33. Chapter 33

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

When Toothless and One-Eye returned Hiccup and Wodensfang told them about the attack that happened earlier that day and everything that had happened during the attack. They had returned in the middle of the day so with Wodensfang now having the chance to go hunting and Hiccup taking a break to eat food. Toothless and One-Eye thought it would be a good idea to examine the hole left behind by the thing ravaging the slaves. They were flying above the surrounding area to see if the thing had left anything behind on the surface but weren't able to find skin, a scale, or anything that showed something had even happened. The touched down a few feet away from the hole and started walking towards it with caution, they made sure to make as little noise as possible and step as lightly as they could for fear of possibly alerting the thing once more. They poked their heads just over the edge and looked down into the whole, they couldn't see too far down though, the thing attacking the kingdom had a lot of forethought and filled up the space behind itself when it retreated. The hole was filled up and was barely two feet deep, One-Eye smashed into the bottom a few times trying to reveal something but wasn't able to do anything, and there was just more and more sand and stone beneath it. They decided to fly back and meet up with Hiccup.

Hiccup had finished eating the little he did eat when Toothless and One-Eye landed in front of him. They were gone for about ten minutes leaving Hiccup to his thoughts, thinking about what to do in this situation with a monster of some sort and the slaves needing help. The two dragons told Hiccup about what they had found about the hole and how there was no way to track down the thing, Hiccup seemed a little disappointed that he couldn't do anything for now but at least he could turn his full attention to helping the kingdom. Hiccup wanted to go to the direct source of the problem and he needed both of his dragons help to do so. They thought it was probably the best way to go about eliminating one of the current problems and couldn't really think of a better way themselves so they talked about what to do for a few minutes before deciding to head off. Wodensfang more than likely wouldn't return for a long time as he had left very shortly after Toothless and One-Eye returned so they probably had more than enough time to go do what they wanted and return before he did.

Hiccup hopped on Toothless' back and they all flew up high and towards the spiral tower. When they reached the tower Hiccup had Toothless and One-Eye slowly fly up and down the tower and focus their hearing on the inside of the tower to try and pick up any people's activity . They were flying around the structure for almost a minute when One-Eye said he heard something.

"I hear a man yelling. He's saying something about _his_ citizens. He sounds angry."

"That's gotta be someone in charge. Toothless, can you hear anything?"

"I hear someone yelling about the Beast. Maybe that's the thing."

"Well it would make a lot of sense."

"What is the plan Hiccup?"

"Yeah, what are we doing?"

"Well we found the person that's probably the king. One-Eye, can you make an entrance for us?"

"Hmm, of course I can Hiccup. Stand back."

One-Eye flew away from the tower and when he thought he had enough distance he started flapping with full strength. He lowered his head so the top of his skull and head that had many small but sharp spike lined up with the side of the tower. He crashed straight into the side of the building and destroyed the wall, leaving a large hole more than big enough for Toothless to be able to fly in with Hiccup on his back. They were in a large room with shelves lining about half of the walls and a large rug in the middle that was crumbled up and had a lot of rips through it. One-Eyes was standing on all fours with an arched back and swinging his tail slowly while looking around for any possible threat. He saw a tall skinny man with armor on his shins, arms and shoulders. He was wearing a cloak that covered his back, fell to the floor and could probably cover his whole body. He had a helmet covering the back and sides of his head leaving a square for his face to be completely visible. One-Eye pounced towards the man and knocked him towards one of the walls. Hiccup had leapt off Toothless and the two did a quick search of the room for anybody else. They heard a heavy object fall off something and land with a thud, they looked at a desk and a large gem that was rolling around on the ground in front of it. Toothless walked over with Hiccup at his side and Toothless lifted the desk and threw it against the wall behind them, it shattered and parts of the wood landed on the other man. One-Eye was standing at a pair of large doors opposite the side with the hole and Toothless and Hiccup were standing over a man curled up on the floor. The man let out a scream and a group of guards flung open the doors, unfortunately the doors opened away from the room not in so One-Eye couldn't stop it, and the guards ran inside. One-Eye looked at each of the guards in a second and stepped back a little while getting ready for a fight.

"GUARDS, KILL THEM, KILL THEM ALL, AND HELP."

"One-Eye take care of them, Toothless pick him up."

Hiccup hopped on Toothless' back as the dragon bit into the possible king's cloak and started walking towards the hole. One-Eye had batted one of the guards but they were able to stand back up. He had leapt at the group and they split themselves up and were now on both sides of One-Eye. Now that all the guards had flooded into the room One-Eye was able to see there were seven in total, all rather large for humans as well. They each were far taller than Hiccup, and even with the training Hiccup had gone through on the mountain these guards were all much tougher looking as well. A guard from each side made the same move, they jumped high seemingly trying to get on One-Eye's back. One-Eye spread out his wings and knocked each of them down right as they reached their highest point, they fell to the ground and each stumbled over themselves falling on their butts and not getting hurt at all. The three on One-Eye's left side raised their weapons, a hammer and two swords, and were about to bring them down on his side, but One-Eye jumped a few inches and pushed himself into them. He tackled all three of them as far as he could and wanted to crash them into the wall but stopped just short and the guards panicked to move away from their trapped position. The other two guards that were on the other side moved towards One-Eye with their weapons drawn and held over their heads.

Toothless clamped down tightly on the probably king's cloak as he jumped out the hole in the wall and flew up and around the tower. The man was yelling at the top of his lungs every second he was in Toothless' mouth, to the point he was starting to turn a few different shades of pink and red. Toothless perched himself atop the tower and slowly put his claws around the man's sides and gripped him with carefully gripping the tower with his hind legs. Hiccup gripped onto the saddle and slowly brought himself up and showed his head over Toothless' shoulder.

"SHUT UP."

Hiccup yelled once at the man, the man looked at him, and went silent. Then he opened his mouth and let out a series of quick questions with no pause between words

"What do you want? Do you know who I am? Do you know where you are? I'll do anything, just please let me live. You'll die for sure if he dies, I'll make sure of it."

"SHUT UP."

"He's really annoying Hiccup."

"Yeah, I know, but we need him."

"What do you want? Why are you here? Why are you…"

"Drop him."

Toothless let go of the man and watched for a second as he fell down, zooming down the length of the tower, he wasn't screaming, the surprise took the life out of him and he just fell like a sack of fish.

"Ok let's get him."

Toothless leaned forward and let his body dip into a nosedive, he furled his wings into his body and expanded them when he was able to grab the man's foot. They stopped immediately and started gliding around for a second with the wind lifting Toothless, Hiccup decided it was for the best if he questioned the man back in the room so Toothless flew up there and tossed the man inside and then landed inside himself. The man landed on top of a pile formed by the seven guards and before he knew it rolled off the pile and was crawling towards the spot where the desk used to be.

"Did you kill them One-Eye? I thought we talked about this."

"They're not dead Hiccup, unfortunately. Tough bastards, the last of them was standing until a few seconds ago."

"But they're not dead right?"

"No."

"Alri…"

"What do you want demon talker? Why have you decided to add your curse on this land? One beats isn't enough for the god's amusement? They plague…"

"SHUT UP."

"A glorious roar Hiccup."

"He's had to do that three times now. That fat thing won't be quiet, like ever."

"Alright, enough. Let's get him talking."

The Viking teen walked towards the man, dragon at each side, head held high, claws digging into the floor and all six eyes with a burning glare directed at the man trying to crawl away but only meeting with the bookshelf behind him.

"W-w-w-w-what d-d-do you want?"

"You're going to shut up. You're going to listen. Understand?"

The man only shook his head as he curled his knees into his chest and stared back at Hiccup, not letting himself even try to look at the two dragons to his side.

"We're going to defeat that thing, whatever it is, and we're going to free the slaves."

"Will you really vanquish the Beast?"

"And free the slaves."

"What slaves?"

"What the fuck do you think I mean what slaves? I'm talking about the slaves you have out there every day putting…"

"This kingdom hasn't had any slaves in decades, almost a century actually, the centennial celebration is…"

"Don't lie to me. I know you have slaves."

"That ended with the king's grandfather. Nearly a century ago."

"But these are the Amber SLAVElands. You haven't had slaves in one-hundred years?"

"The king's grandfather ended that practice long, long ago. All the people that go hunt for the amber since then have been citizens."

"Why would they do that? Aren't they afraid of dying?"

"The reward for simply going out there every day seems to be worth it to them, it is very high pay and we bring everybody in if there is any sign of the Beast anyway."

"There is not a single slave in this kingdom."

"The past two kings as well as the current have had no business in the slave trade whatsoever."

"He's right. We've removed ourselves entirely from that sort of atrocity."

Hiccup and the dragons turned around to see the tall man they had initially knocked out was struggling to stand up behind them. He also spoke in a way that led to him seeming more involved than the fat man in terms of running the kingdom.

"Who are you?"

"I am the current king of the Amber Empire."

"But this fat guy?"

"A friend, we often walked the streets when I was a tiny child."

"So you're the king?"

"Correct."

"And there haven't been any…"

"I think we more than adequately covered everything you're here for. Would you still consider aiding us in abolishing that Beast? We can aid you with anything you require."

"So Hiccup, what's been going on, they talk funnier than you do so I don't understand much."

"Are we to continue ravaging the kingdom?"

"No, change of plans. We'll help you."

"Excellent."


	34. Chapter 34

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

The king talked with Hiccup for most of the time that was left that day. the king explained how his people had been living in the Amberlands, the name used since his grandfather's freeing of the slaves, and the history they had created over the thousand years there. Hiccup listened attentively for hours as he was trying to pick up any sort of information that could help him figure out how to lure and kill the Beast. Eventually it had gotten dark out and Hiccup had wound up learning nothing of use, he did have time to come up with a plan though, it was a very risky plan but in this situation something was better than nothing. The king let him sleep in a room on one of the lower floors of the spiral and provided them with a meal and space for the dragons as well.

In the morning when everybody woke up Hiccup told the king to keep the citizens from going out for a few minutes, he needed that time to set up with his dragons. Even though there were three gates people could use to exit and enter, only two gates were ever really used and that was because they both let out towards the area that was scavenged every day. Toothless and Hiccup positioned themselves at the 'top' gate while One-Eye and Wodensfang took their place at the 'bottom' gate, they were the gates leading North and West but it was easier to remember top and bottom for now. The partners passed through the gates with the citizens and were just supposed to walk around keeping an eye on the horizon. They stayed out all day, at noon the dust storm got a little rougher but not enough to deter them, or enough to signal that the monster was going to attack. A few hours after that the citizens were taking a short break when a large blast of sand hit everyone, it passed by though and proved to be nothing more than heavy wind. Hiccup was starting to feel relieved and disappointed, he knew it was a good day if they weren't attacked but also thought that his plan would take down the monster. The soldiers signaled it was time for the citizens to come in, the sun was starting to set and the kingdom preferred to be completely safe and not have anyone beyond the gates if there wasn't clear daylight. Hiccup watched the citizens walk in when a huge, rough sandstorm picked up. There was a violent shaking making it difficult for the people to walk, it was followed by an explosion of dust in the distance, then a violent, deafening monster's roar. This was the without a doubt the monster. The few people that were still outside rushed in and Toothless rushed over to where the monster had crawled out.

The monster was enormous, easily twice the size of One-Eye, who was already bigger than Toothless. Toothless flew up and started circling around the monster, he was flying as fast as he could trying to disperse all the dust in the air. One-Eye arrived while he was doing this and decided to try his own method. He dug his claws into the ground and flapped his wings as hard as he could, although his body was bigger than Toothless, his wings were about the same size so he couldn't fly as fast as Toothless. The monster let out a roar and tried swatting Toothless out of the air, eventually through their combined efforts Toothless and One-Eye had completely blown all the dust away and had a clear view at the beast that had been causing so much trouble.

The monster was enormous, it was scaly like a dragon but had a weird coat of some kind of liquid all over its body. It had no eyes on its head but there was a large gaping mouth with several rows of jagged teeth that would probably rip apart anything it ate. Its front two limbs were very long, about as long as its whole body was and on its claws Hiccup could see eyes, eyes lining its fingers and the base of its claws. The monster would probably stick its claws above the sand to check if there was any prey before coming out, but it was too late today. Toothless had landed when the dust had been cleared away and now standing beside One-Eye they could all put the plan into motion.

Toothless charged at the Monster, he shot his unique plasma fire at the monster. Toothless hit the monster four times, he hit the monster in the chest three times but that didn't seem to disturb it at all and the last shot hit the one of the monster's fingers on its left. The monster had probably been in a fight a long time ago because its right claw had six fingers but his left only had three even after Toothless shoot one off. The monster started coming at them, it ran for a few seconds then pounced on One-Eye who hadn't moved yet. One-Eye jumped far back and totally dodged the giant monster's attack. The monster let out a roar and tilted its head back. Toothless let a few more plasma balls out and blasted the monster on its back, but the monster still seemed mostly unaffected except for a small twitch when it was hit. One-eye started running away, he always did his best if he started at a distance, this signaled Toothless to start trying to distract the monster but before he could do anything else the monster started spewing out a big stream of something purple from its mouth. He was turning towards Toothless while spraying and Hiccup didn't know what the liquid was but it had to be something bad so Toothless started running around to try to waste the spray. When most of the ground around the beast was covered in the liquid Hiccup looked around, the liquid was melting into the sand, making a giant crater anywhere it hit, the monster spit out a giant pool of acid that could probably melt through anything if it completely destroyed the sand. The monster let out a roar and was shaking its claws in the air and on the ground, probably looking for them, then Hiccup heard a thunderous roar come from behind them. One-Eye blew past them leaving a cloud of dust, before he stepped in the acid pool he jumped, he didn't jumped high in the air this time, he propelled his body straight at the monster and slammed into him with enough speed and strength that could've crushed boulders into dust. The strong dragon crashed into the monster's chest, right in the middle of his body and knocked him flat on the ground. Before his back touched the ground One-Eye leapt off him and towards the other side, the monster was now twitching on the ground in between Toothless and One-Eye. Hiccup waved over at One-Eye to get his attention and when he had it he signaled One-Eye to go start his second attack, he once again ran off to prepare for another surprise attack. Toothless jumped on the monster, Hiccup hopped off Toothless and carefully walked over the monsters left limb and towards its palm. He had taken out the Stormblade and was using it to cut apart the monsters eyes that were lining its arm. Toothless was using his claws to do the same to the right arm, this arm looked to be completely intact except for a small cut near the shoulder as well. Before Toothless could get them all though Hiccup had called him back and they started to get off when they felt the monster was starting to probably get up. the monster lifted its left arm, covered in its odd green blood, it slammed it into the ground a few times and let out a pained roar. It raised its head and seemed to look around a few times, then it started to raise its right claw but as it did so One-Eye came back with his second part of the plan, he flew over the monster as Toothless started flying away. One-Eye had come back with a large boulder, when Toothless was completely cleared and just as the monster was starting to pull itself up One-Eye dove down towards the monster and before coming too close dropped the boulder on its right limb and flew away. The monsters left eyes were almost all useless and now its right limb was pinned beneath a boulder, Hiccup was sure this was the end. By now the acid had stopped melting away and was just a pool of tough black rock. As the monster was thrashing on the floor trying to get the boulder off Hiccup had Toothless and One-Eye land, he got off of Toothless and had them go after the monster's left limb. Hiccup started running towards the monster, he hopped on its chest and ran the few feet up to its head. Toothless and One-Eye had reached the left claw and each bit deep into one of the fingers, they started digging into the ground as they were pulling away from the monster and trying to rip off its claw. They were thrown starting to tear off the monster's scales but before they were able to actually start tearing into the flesh they were thrown off, the tumbled away from the monster and had slight trouble getting up. The monster reached for the boulder and with a pained roar and struggle it lifted the boulder off its limb and barely moved out of the way before dropping it on the former acid. He used his limb with sight and reached for Hiccup but Hiccup was able to slice the beast's neck wide open, green blood oozed out of his neck and Hiccup was lifted in the air. The monster twitched and groaned as it stood up, Toothless roared at it and Hiccup tried to look behind him. Toothless shot a few plasma bolts at the monster's chest, Hiccup was taken by complete surprise when the first one exploded from Toothless' mouth. When the first one hit the monster crashed back down onto the ground and the monster threw Hiccup twice its own size into the air, he floated for a fraction of a second before he started to plummet. One-Eye used his explosive muscle to launch himself into the air and caught Hiccup midair, Hiccup maneuvered his way onto One-Eye's back and they flew back down. The monster let out another roar, Hiccup walked over to it, he climbed back onto its chest and looked the monster's whole body over. The right arm twitched a little more and Hiccup raised his Stormblade over his head, he stabbed straight beneath his feet into the monster's chest. He felt the sword move a bit, he had probably barely stabbed into some muscle, he leaned over the sword and pushed further into its chest using his weight to sink the flawless sword deeper into the beast. He felt a rhythmic twitching from the sword that at first sped up then completely died down after a few seconds. Hiccup pulled the sword out and made his way over to the shoulders, he hopped onto the ground and raised the sword over his head once more, he aimed for the cut he made earlier. He swung the sword down and sliced right through the flesh with no effort at all, he wiped the sword off using the shoulder of the monster and had Toothless come over to pick him up. a few minutes later a group of soldiers came up to the corpse.

"I think we just freed you."

"Indeed you did, we will throw a celebration lasting many days, we will honor you and immortalize you in the history of my kingdom."

"You came along too King."

"Of course, now let us make our way back."

"Great, its been a long day."


	35. Chapter 35

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

Hiccup had walked over to his dragons, who were standing on the edge of the black circle surrounding the lifeless body of the monster. As Hiccup took steps though he could feel himself get lightheaded, his vision was blurring a bit and he would've fallen to the ground if he didn't fall onto one of his dragon's sides. He heard the emperor yell for his soldiers to lift Hiccup and take him somewhere, he couldn't really understand what was going on by now, and although he was still leaning on his dragons for a small while he eventually felt himself be lifted into the air and carried off. The soldiers carried him to a buildings that was bigger than any of the homes in the kingdom but didn't seem to be owned by anybody extravagant, there were also people, all of which looked injured or sick, sitting around and talking in low voices, not whispers but almost politely keeping their voices down. Wodensfang was listening to the emperor talk to the soldiers and some people walking around the building and was eventually able to learn that this was a building used to treat the people of the kingdom, whether they were sick or injured in any way. The emperor had called for the head healer in the building and explained the situation, he had Hiccup put in a room by himself with and positioned guards at the door, and he wanted Hiccup to be treated as though he were royalty and if possible, waken up as soon as possible.

Hiccup would lay in bed for a full day before he woke up. Toothless and One-Eye had spent the time going around the kingdom, at first all of the people that normally walked the street hid in their houses for the remainder of the day when Hiccup had defeated the beast. The people had slowly started to come out of their homes the next morning, most of them still avoided being on the same walking path as the dragons but the children almost looked without fear, any child that saw the dragons would run up to them and starting running their hands smoothly across their scales. The adults were extremely apprehensive at this but as the day went on a few adults out of every group had learned the dragons meant no harm, and by the end of the day the dragons were walking around town with the people as though they had been there their whole lives.

* * *

After missing the remainder of the day when he defeated the monster, and the full next day, Hiccup woke up the morning after, he was extremely dizzy and hungry. His dizziness probably came from the hunger so he stumbled to the door and opened it, the guards turned around in surprise and saw him standing there, and they tried to talk but kept messing up anything they tried to say.

"Ok well, before you two start a whole new language, can you calm down.

The soldiers looked at each other, returned their stares to Hiccup and nodded.

"Great. Can you tell me where I am?"

"You're in the healing building Lord."

"Lord?"

"You vanquished the Beast of the Amberlands, you are the bravest warrior to have ever been here. The kingdom owes you its eternal gratitude."

The soldiers dropped to one knee, removed their helmets and bowed their heads to Hiccup, though they were still reaching to Hiccup's chest. _This is not what I was expecting._

"Stop that. Please stop that, get up."

Hiccup tried lifting the men by their shoulders but fell forward and was now leaning on them. They stood up and Hiccup almost fell backwards before they each gripped him by his wrists. They helped him back to the large bed he'd been lying for his whole time asleep.

"Do you need something Lord?"

"Again with the _Lord_, do you have to call me that?"

"What else would we call you?"

"Just Hiccup, Hiccup is totally fine."

"Are y…"

"I'm completely sure. Now, can you tell me what's happened?"

"Well as I said before, you courageously defeated the Beast of the Amberlands."

"Right."

"Then after the fight the sneaky demon must have some sort of terrible power from beyond the grave."

"What?"

"You passed out shortly after our groups' arrival at the corpse. We lifted you and brought you to the healing center as fast as we could and you've been under careful care of the Chief Healer."

"A power beyond the corpse?"

"That's the word for now."

"No it really isn't pair of morons, why aint ya standing guard like ya supposed ta."

"Chief Healer, we didn't think…"

"I know ya didn't think, now get out da room before ya mess anything up."

Hiccup was lying in bed so he could only hear a shrill voice coming from behind the two men, the source must have also been much shorter than them because it looked like they were almost staring straight down to make eye contact.

"Now get on, get outta 'ere. Boy, Hiccup, yer awake are ya?"

"Uh…yeah, I woke up a few minutes ago."

"Good, good. How ya feelin? Head, body, anything funny?"

"I think I'm fine."

"Well I gotta check ya anyway."

Getting a good look at the person, it was a woman. She was rather short with the top of her head reaching Hiccup's chest and apparently was rather old with most of her hair being a light shade of grey with some strips of white standing out as well. She had robes that were a dark grey, with symbols in white in a circle on her chest. She had a shawl as well that followed the same colors and a single symbols on the upper back very close to her neck. She was lifting his arms and running her hands up and down his chest, ribs, and back like she was searching for cuts or lumps. She pulled him down and examined his eyes one at a time, she turned his head and looked in his ears and eventually let him go and stepped back.

"Yer totally fine, whatever got hold o' ya is totally gone now. You can leave anytime ya want, the Emperors' actually eager ta see ya as well so ya best hurry."

"Thanks, for everything."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be seein ya then."

She walked out the door and left Hiccup in the room. He looked around and found one of the large bags Hiccup and One-Eye carry on their travels, he rifled through it and found an incredible surprise.

"Wow, this is pretty awesome."

Rather than his normal clothes he found some pieces of leather armor that looked, and could probably defend him a lot better, than his old rags. The old clothes had also started to fall apart with holes and strands just falling off. The first thing he picked up was a helmet, it almost seemed to have two parts to it, the lowersection that would protect his jaw and ears was brown, almost untouched leather and would connect to the top half that protected the whole of his skull. The top had a line of spikes leading from the bridge of his nose to the the top back of his head, there was a line of spikes starting above each eye as well that would curve out and to the back ending the same place. Next he picked up a leather piece that had wo layers to it, the leather connecting to his left arm would lay under the piece coming from his right that would also strap in several sections. He had a small shoulder piece for his left shoulder that easily cover his shoulder but still provide great mobility. His right shoulder guard was a lot bigger and spread further onto his chest and a little down his arm. He also pulled out a pair of pants, they were a simpler design, just normal leather, but they had two pockets on each leg that were more deep than wide but definitely useful to hide some more things Hiccup could use in an emergency. Finally he picked up a pair of forearm guards, they were also leather and they had small pockets on each one that were probably left for Hiccup to decide what he would carry in them.

* * *

Hiccup had left the healing center and had just stepped out of the healing center when Wodensfang glided over to him and landed on his shoulder.  
"Hey Woden, how you been buddy?"

"I've been just fine Master, but how are you? Are you well enough to walk around?"

"Yeah I feel totally fine. Really hungry but that's it."

"Ooh, the emperor should be able to help with that, he is eager for you to talk to him as well."

"Yeah I heard about that. So do you know what happened with me?"

"Well to be honest Master, the humans weren't useful at all. I was able to learn a lot about the monster from the acid left behind though."

"Great, so what'd you learn?"

"The acid had a very poisonous mix in it as well. Normally it might kill a person from the inside and outside, but you only took in smoke that came from the acid. That's probably why you passed out, also why you're still alive."

"Well, I wish I didn't know that now. Thanks for that Woden."

"Sorry Master, but perhaps…"

"Let's just get to the emperor. Where are Toothless and One-Eye by the way?"

On the way to the spiral where Hiccup thought the Emperor was though he saw a large crowd filling up the space between the buildings and the path they were taking. He tried to look through all of them when he felt a nudge behind him, he turned around and saw One-Eye looking down at him.

"Hey big guy, how you doing One-Eye?"

"I'm doing quite well Hiccup, are you well enough yourself though?"

"Yeah I'm doing just fine. You know where Toothless is?"

Before One-Eye could respond Hiccup heard the enormous crowd of people cheer. He couldn't see what was going on from where they stood so Hiccup got on One-Eye and had him fly over the crowd and look for the source of the excitement. They flew over a few buildings and saw a large opening with a wooden stand in the middle, Hiccup saw the Emperor and a few guards standing on the box.

* * *

"My people, my kingdom, for over a thousand years this kingdom resting in the Amberlands has lived in fear, in terror of the Beast that roamed outside the walls. We were confined to the walls, and if not to the walls we were confined to our homes, we have not had peace for over a thousand years. That Beast lurked, searched, and hunted for us all day and all night without ever resting. It does not search tonight though, it does not search or hunt or plagues us tonight. For the first night in over a thousand years, we are completely free of the Beast. For the first night, we celebrate, we feast, we dance, and we live for the first night in over a thousand years. We no longer live in fear of what will devour us. Tonight we live and celebrate our savior, Hiccup the Dragon Lord."

"Oh no…did he really come up with that."

"We celebrate this courageous and outstanding soul who with the aid of his dragons, Toothless the obelisk striker and One-Eye the ivory brute, vanquished the Beast and freed us."

The crowd erupted into cheers and chants that tried to form some sort of rhythm using Hiccup, Toothless and One-Eye, and while it may not have been the most pleasing thing to hear it was nice to hear people yell for Hiccup in a positive manner.

* * *

**Alright, so normally I wouldn't do this but its a very short note. The leather armor Hiccup found in place of his clothes is the armor from the second movie. Hope you liked the chapter and continue to read and review, thanks.**


	36. Chapter 36

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

The people of the kingdom started preparing for their celebration, the food stalls closed down and began cooking as much as they could, the furniture makers started bringing out all the chairs and tables they had in their shops and everything was set up all around the kingdom. Guards had spread throughout the city helping people with anything they needed, children were running around cheering and playing with no care for the approaching night, they would be the first to grow in this kingdom with no fear of what was beyond the gates. Just as the sky was starting to get dark, people were still rushing around from place to place getting last minute details done. Hiccup had been walking around with Wodensfang on his shoulder the entire time, he had been stopped constantly by all sorts of people form the kingdom, they all thanked him for killing the beast, for freeing them, for some things he had nothing do with even.

When the sun had set Hiccup was curious as to what the people were going to do to celebrate, and when he blinked the whole alley he had been walking through for a minute went from dark to almost blindingly bright. The people had set up torches through the streets and lined the sides of the alleys with tables displaying all sorts of food he had never seen before, mainly meat probably because they were surrounded by desert there wasn't much room to grow plants. As Hiccup walked towards one of the tables he was approached by a pair of guards.

"Lord Hiccup."

"Just Hiccup."

"The emperor requests that you join him for dinner."

"I think I'm fine out here."

"Will we get to eat soon Master?"

"Yeah Woden."

"Please Lord Hiccup, the emperor is most eager for this dinner with you."

"You're going to keep asking me aren't you?"

"Our emperor requested it."

"Fine, let's go. Have either of you seen Toothless?"

"Toothless?"

"He's my black dragon. I haven't seen him all day."

"Oh, the Ebony Striker. He's been in the Emperor's Spiral. The servants have been tending to him during the day."

"So he's been lazing around the whole time I was passed out. Great to hear."

"He would visit often Master, but otherwise yes."

"One-Eye?" Hiccup turned around to see his snowy white friend had walked behind them.

"Yes Hiccup?"

"Can you take all of us to the spiral?"

"Are you speaking to the Ivory Brute Lord?"

"I'm not a lord, and yes."

"I would love to ride a dragon."

"Well, it would not be the easiest of feats, but doable Hiccup."

"Great."

"You would all need to be perfectly still on the way."

"Sounds good. Alright, you two can get on, but if you move on the way there you might fall off.

"We'll be stones."

"This will make for a great story."

* * *

Toothless ate another fish from the pile in his room. He had learnt of a large underground lake the people of the kingdom used as a method to sort of raise fish throughout the year. The door on the opposite side the room opened up, Toothless looked up and saw One-Eye walk in. he looked back down at his small pile of fish but darted his eyes back up and saw One-Eye move to the side and let Hiccup walk in, Toothless jumped up from where he was lying and jumped over to Hiccup. Toothless pinned him to the ground and started licking his friend, Hiccup pleaded for Toothless to stop trying to push the dragon off him but was completely overpowered.

"Toothless, please, please, stop, Toothless stop it."

"You're finally awake, and you're here. I missed you so much Hiccup."

"I get it, I get it. Could you stop licking me already?"

Toothless composed himself, he stood up and backed away enough to let Hiccup stand up. Hiccup looked down at his brand new set of armor that was now soaking in dragon saliva.

"I hope this can wash out."

"You're awake Hiccup. When did you wake up? Are you okay?"

"I'm totally fine. Almost drowned with your saliva but I'm fine."

"So when are we leaving then?"

"I don't really know. We'll stay tonight and figure things out tomorrow, how's that?"

"Sounds great."

"I agree Master."

"I suppose another day isn't delaying anything."

"Actually, how have you been holding up One-Eye? Has the weather been ok for you?"

"Thank you for worrying Hiccup, I've gotten a little accustomed to the heat though I do still try to stay in cool places. I can endure another night here."

"Alright, well I'm gonna head up to meet the Emperor, you guys have fun."

Toothless returned to his pile of fish, One-Eye took a spot to the left of the door and laid down, Wodensfang was looking around the room for a spot to stay in while Hiccup was away with the Emperor. Hiccup took another look at each of them and shut the door and started heading down the corridor, up a flight a stairs, and through another corridor when he came to a set of door with multiple guards standing outside. Before he got to say anything the guards stepped aside and opened up the doors for him, he expressed some gratitude and walked in, he took a look around the room, the large hole from when they first met with the emperor was hallway closed up and at the desk was the Emperor. He motioned and invited for Hiccup to come over and take a seat.

"Welcome Lord Hiccup, how have you been feeling, it is a great pleasure that you are able to walk around our city."

"Please don't start with the _lord_."

"Does it bother you, having such a title?"

"It's a little different to what I'm used to."

"Even more reason for you to accept it then, you deserve the honor, the…"

"Can we just get to what you called me for?"

"Ah, right so. With the defeat of the Beast the kingdom will finally be able to safely expand far beyond the current walls. We will be able to create so many more houses and shops for all the people that are currently crammed far beyond levels of any kind of comfort. We would like to offer you a permanent place of rest, within this empire, as our hero."

"Wow, I didn't think you guys had problems like that too. I'm not a hero though, my dragons did most of the work. I'm not a hero, I'm just Hiccup, a Viking on a journey."

"Well do you have any plans as to where your next destination lies?"

"Not yet really."

"Then why not stay here? Surely there could be something you could do? Do you have an interest in jewel crafts, or perhaps stone working, or even blacksmithing?"

"You guys have a forge?"

"So that captures your attention, we have a rather large forge."

"Ok, maybe we will stay around for a while."

"Excellent, you can settle your matters in the morning, tonight we celebrate."

The Emperor picked up a goblet, and motioned for Hiccup to pick up his own and they drank and eat as much as they could. Hiccup went through multiple plates of food covered in meats, breads, and other foods he hadn't seen before.

When Hiccup woke up the next morning he had a terrible headache, he couldn't really remember what happened before he had gone to sleep except for a small bit of conversation about him learning to sing. He looked around and saw he had been lying face down on the floor in the middle of a room he didn't recognize and for a second was in a panic until he remembered he had dinner with the emperor. He tried standing up but had a lot trouble not stumbling over himself and managing with the headache he had. The doors swung open and he looked over his shoulder to see guards starting to line inside and then the Emperor walked past them all, over to Hiccup and helped him up.

"Good morning Hiccup, great night I must say, pitiful story you have though. All the more reason for you to stay though."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well drink this first, we can talk on our way to the smith, I'm sure you're eager to start that project you've told me about."

"Whats the drink?"

"Well you didn't seem to take too well to the drinks from last night but you were very talkative after we went through a few bottles."

"We got drunk. Is that what happened?"

"Of course, it was a celebration."

"We're here, the largest smith in the empire."

Hiccup was standing in front of a large building with a pair of doors. The building was very wide and when they went inside he could see it formed a half circle with multiple stations where he could work on any process of the process. He counted six stations for melting, forging, cooling and a large desk close to the front where they had come in that Hiccup assumed was for people to come in and commission work.

"Wow…this place is amazing."

"Yes, I'm almost awestruck every time I come here myself."

"So what project did I tell you about last night?"

"Oh several, but the more important matter now, is this enough to make you stay?"

"I think we can take some time off."

"Wonderful. We'll inform the people."

The emperor had the guards assemble people around a large stage in the middle of the empire, in the same way he announced the Beast was killed he announce Hiccup, Toothless, One-Eye and Wodensfang were going to stay in the empire. There were roaring cheers and people rushing up to any of the new inhabitants greeting, welcoming, and thanking them.

* * *

Back on Berk, the dragon raids had gone on for a little over two weeks. They had a few days of peace after that. People then were tired, desperate, angry and thirsty for the blood of the beasts that dared to return to their land. People then were almost ready to start another war with the dragons and go back to the ways they had known for their whole lives before all the dragons disappeared. The people were ready to be warriors, to be true Vikings like some people put it then. They were given a leader though. Somebody had shown up after the dragons and proved that he was able to conquer them and force them out, and with incredible charisma the people believed him and his friend. The people of Berk and the archipelago were able to resume their peaceful lives after the two weeks of dragon raids. Everybody followed the new leader, they almost worshipped him and his ability to defeat the dragons. When he first arrived at Berk he had arrived with the leaders of the Berzerker tribe and the Bashem Oiks, admittedly Stoick was very unsettled as to why the leaders had come with no warning, but more shocked about why they were obeying the strange men in front of them. The two men explained what they had been doing throughout the archipelago, they explained how these two tribes had almost identical problems to what Berk. They explained that after the two men arrived at the islands, within a matter of days, all the dragons had left and not been back since. The Berzerker and Bashem Oik chiefs didn't deny anything the men said. After the two weeks of dragon raids that had gotten worse and worse after every day, after two weeks that were worse than anything they had ever experience, Stoick was more than ecstatic about the possibility of getting rid of the problem. There were conditions but almost as if he was deaf Stoick heard none of them and agreed immediately to what the two men said as long as they could get rid of the dragons. The dragons disappeared and the two men took over of the isle of Berk, the tribe of the Meathead and another part of the archipelago.


	37. Chapter 37

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

Hiccup had stayed in the kingdom for a week, he was constantly walking around town and talking to the people who would be able to supply him with metals, jewels, and even some wood. Toothless spent a lot of time with the people of the kingdom, they had grown to be very comfortable with him and he was just as comfortable with them. One-Eye spent some of his time helping Hiccup transport all the materials he needed from shops to the blacksmith and when he wasn't he would lie down by the underground lake and try to cool off, even if he had gotten slightly used to the heat it was still unbearable for him. Wodensfang spent a lot of time aiding in the smith, it was normally small stuff like bringing and taking tools or looking over supplies but he was happy to do it, often he would give Hiccup a second opinion on the progress he was making with the project and it would be a great help. The Emperor would often walk in and ask Hiccup to come with him, they would talk to the people very often, almost every time, and usually eat at the spiral in peace. They would talk, mainly about Hiccup's time and how he had been doing, and sometimes Hiccup would get to ask questions about the kingdom.

Halfway through Hiccup's second week here he had just about gotten to finishing up the second project he'd been thinking of working on, he was a lot more excited about this one but also slightly sad because he thought it would probably be a good time to leave after finishing. The Emperor had come to figure that out as well as a few of the people initially and when one person found out, it started to spread several rumors. Hiccup had some trouble walking through the streets without being asked if he was leaving, taking people with him, leaving his dragons and all sorts of other weird questions.

Hiccup had finished working on his first project in about six days, his second project was finished up in a little over five days. He spent another day thinking about what it was that he wanted to do now that he had finished. He spent part of a day talking with Wodensfang about leaving and if so where their destination would be. They hadn't had a real destination when they found the Amberlands, one came up but prior to that they were just going on a journey. He spent the rest of that day talking with One-Eye. One-Eye talked about how initially leaving the mountains was a difficult choice but one worth it after being able to come this far and prove he wasn't just a dragon that looked over his people, he was a traveler now, and he hoped to be much more. At night One-Eye would usually stay sleeping by the lake, it had become his favorite spot by far, and Wodensfang joined him as a bit of a refreshing break from the kingdom and smith. Toothless and Hiccup slept at the spiral, or tried to.

"I think we'll leave soon Toothless."

"Cool, where we going this time?"

"I don't really know. Where do you think we should go?"

"I think we should find more dragons."

"Find more dragons?"

"Well maybe find more of those big ones that control smaller dragons."

"Oh, the seadragonus giganticus maximus."

"Yeah them, maybe there are more."

"You think? Why don't you know?"

"I never traveled far really, I grew up in a region near your herd and that big guy moved in. I couldn't leave after that."

"So you think there are probably more."

"There might be."

"And how would we go about finding them?"

"Well Wodensfang never had trouble, he could probably do it."

"That's right."

Toothless lifted his head slightly and glance over at the door to their room. There was knock, Hiccup invited the person in, the Emperor walked in.

"Emperor. It's kinda late, is something happening."

"Nothing bad Hiccup, I just came to give you a bit of a warning for tomorrow."

"A warning?"

"Oh its nothing bad, but it would probably catch your dragons by surprise and that may not be the best decision. Expect something big."

"Oh that sounds bad."

"Not at all, it's a wondrous farewell."

"Ugh, that's why its bad, why does it need to be such a big deal."

"Hiccup."

"I get it, it'll be alright."

"Thank you Hiccup, for my people."

The Emperor walks out of the room, Hiccup puts hand over Toothless' snout and Toothless lets out a small purr.

"Well the decision is all up to you Hiccup, we'll follow you anywhere."

"Sounds good buddy, what do you say we go to sleep now?"

"Alright, no arguments outta me."

* * *

The next morning Hiccup and Toothless had woken up and started heading down the spiral to greet One-Eye and Woden so that they would be able to leave at a decent time. The four found each other nearly at the bottom of the building and walked the rest of the way down and out together. They each shared about something small they would miss from this place, as travelers it was mainly the comfortable sleeping area. They exited the spiral and were greeted by a small open space in front and waves of people taking up every single inch of the alleys and rooftops. It seemed they were all waiting for them to come out and as soon as they did everybody started to chant, or sing, Hiccup couldn't clearly tell because every single person in the kingdom was doing it all at once so the sheer volume overwhelmed him. this went on for a little over a minute before the crowd to left parted slightly and the Emperor came walking through.

"I thought we had an agreement."

"I cannot let my people miss their final chance to thank the hero that freed them."

"Well I thought we at least agreed on something small."

"Oh this is small, there was a much more elaborate plan involving…"

"I don't wanna hear it, its fine."

"Lord Hiccup"

"I'm not a lord."

"You are to us, Hiccup, my people will always remember this. It may not have been anything more than another day in your life, but it was terror and sadness for us for over a thousand years. You _are_ a great person, whether you think it or not. You _are _hero to us and nothing you say will change that."

"Well…I mean…the dragons…"

"Yes, we understand. Your friends were of great aid as well. Which is why, as the Emperor, I wish to give you a gift, Jarlo, bring it."

The short portly man Hiccup and friends mistook for the Emperor when they first got here presented a small chest covered in small chains tied with three iron locks. The Emperor opened one of the locks, he held the chest and had Jarlo open another lock, and then they turned around and looked to Hiccup.

"The final key has been lost for centuries, could you please." The Emperor signaled to Toothless and the final lock.

"What's he want Hiccup?"

"I think he wants you to break off the lock."

"Oh, easy."

Toothless broke off the lock. The Emperor turned the chest towards himself, turned his body away from Hiccup, towards the people and raised a brilliant red jewel high above his head. There was a massive wave of gasps from the people of the kingdom. Everybody bowed their heads and as the Emperor brought the jewel back down to his chest he walked to Hiccup and took his hand. The Emperor placed the jewel in Hiccup's hand, Hiccup was almost able to cover the jewel with his fist but small glitters shone through. The dragons stared intently at the jewel, not blinking and breathing very slowly. Hiccup looked up at the Emperor.

"What is this, I've never seen a jewel like this."

Hiccup opened his fist and brought the jewel right up to his eye, he could see something inside. He looked long and hard inside and through the jewel and could feel a weird wave come over his body. It looked like a dragon's eye.

"That, is the first jewel ever found by the empire. There has never been another like it in."

"I can't take something like that."

"You saved us from centuries of fear of the Beast. This kingdom could never repay that, but this is our attempt."

"Is he giving that to you Master?"

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"Just don't sell it" The Emperor said with a smirk.

"Of course not."

"Then it is yours, look at it if you ever need the courage, though I doubt someone like you would need courage. Now off with you. We can't say our farewells if you stay here."

"Thank you."

The Emperor lifted his right hand to his chest and raised his left hand high above his head. The people shouted some phrase Hiccup took as goodbye. Hiccup hopped on Toothless, Wodensfang curled himself around Hiccup's neck and the two mighty monochrome dragons blasted off the ground and into the sky. The four flew off over the city and Hiccup leaned to the side to get a glimpse of the ground of the empire covered by its citizens. They waved as he flew over them and eventually they were no longer over the city and heading away from the city. They weren't sure if they wanted to go further south or to the west or even back to the archipelago, Hiccup thought about it and decided to venture west. The group flew silent for hours, they headed over to the mountains when One-Eye could no longer bear the heat. The sun was starting to set as well so they decided to make camp, during the week before Hiccup left and while he was finishing up his projects he had also gathered some supplies that would make camping easier.

"Hey Hiccup."

"Yeah Toothless?"

"What were you working on for so long anyway? Did you even finish, I don't see anything."

"Well, I think I need to tweak a little more but I think I can show you guys."

Hiccup rifled through his bags, pulling stuff out and putting it aside, he went through three bags before he found what he was looking for. It was a stick, a think metal stick with a slit for an opening on one side.

"That's a stick."

"I don't see what's so special about a stick Master."

"Is it meant to bash people over the head?"

"Well wait, there's more to it." Hiccup swung the side down to his side and a blade shot out.

"Ooohh. Now it looks cool."

"Very interesting Master."

"A real tool for battle, excellent thing Hiccup."

"Yeah, I guess it is pretty cool. It's not finished though so that's all for tonight. Lets get some rest and really travel tomorrow."

Everyone promptly went to sleep. When they woke up the group continued to travel to the west flying back into archipelago territory, making it easier for One-Eye to fly for very long distances for long periods of times. They continued their traveler's lifestyle until they came across an island that appeared to have a village, it was a small village but there were definitely a good sized community. They decided it would probably be best to not show Toothless and One-Eye to the villagers. They camped out one last night and in the morning Hiccup would walk into town and act as a solo traveler. On that morning, each of the dragons were a lot more overbearing than before, it'd been a very long time since Hiccup talked to humans on his own as well, so he was also nervous.

"Alright, let's see if I'm any less awkward than before."

"Woden, hurry and hide in his clothes already."

"Yeah, and Hiccup, if you need us, roar."

"We'll rush to your side and destroy any enemy."

"Ok, first, no destroying, got it One-Eye. Second, I know what to do, and I won't have to do it anyway, how bad could my social skills have gotten. We've only traveled for like a week."

"Master, it would probably be best if we simply left."

"You shut it little one."

"Respect your elders you snowy brute."

"We're not starting this." Hiccup was stern, and impatient. "I'm going into town to see if they have anything good. I'll see you two later today."

And with that, Hiccup walked the short distance from the forest clearing where they landed and camped into the back of town. He was out of sight and the large dragons could only wait now.


	38. Chapter 38

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

Hiccup walked for a few minutes before getting to see the back wall of a large building. He walked to the right first but had to walk back and around the left of several buildings before finding an opening to walk into the village. The first road he was able to go down seemed to be the furthest from the docks, the tiny part of the docks he could see, and this road wasn't very long. He walked through the street and came across an alley that let him walk further into the center of town. After going through another opening among all the buildings he came across an area where he could see there were more people. As he started walking towards the gathering the people lining the sides started to look at him. The area he had come from was probably where everybody lived, and from what he could read on the signs he was in an area with shops for the people of the village. As he walked towards the crowded section of the village he was called out to by a loud, gruff, and pretty annoying voice. He wanted to ignore it but after three people started to call him out from behind and apparently were following him he turned around.

"Oy stranger, where you come from? Aint never seen you round here."

"Yeah, you new to town or something stickman?"

"What do you want?"

"We just lookin to know what you doing here. As locals."

"I'm here for supplies."

Hiccup started to leave but one of the three men grabbed on to his shoulder.

"Oy come on boy, you gon tell us where you from at least, aint ya?"

"East, I'm from the East."

"One of them viking tribes eh?"

"Not exactly a viking."

"How'd ya get so far south then?"

"I'm traveling through, I have a boat on the other side of the island.

Hiccup had to start coming up with anything that would get these three men away from him, he certainly didn't need any negative attention with the overprotective friends he had. He heard another voice before the men could ask him anything else. It was a much softer and kinder voice this time though and one that could probably get him out of this annoying situation. Hiccup looked over to see a girl, she was probably about his age and slightly shorter than he was. she had a very slender build and was wearing a dark green skirt with a grey long sleeve shirt and a thin leather vest. Her wavy black hair came down the right side of her face stopping below her cheek while on her left it came down in a braid and weaved into the middle of her chest. Her green eyes were similar to Hiccup's.

"Do you three always spend your time off riling people up?"

"Come now, aint nothing wrong with messing with a traveler."

"I'm sorry, who are you?"

"I'm Heather, nice to meet you."

"Ryder."

"These three bothering you?"

"Well not quite."

"See, we aint done nothing wrong here, now why don't ya go back to your shop."

"And why don't you go back to the pub your supposed to be helping at."

"I'm on break."

"And your goons don't have anything better to do?"

"Now listen here."

"Ok, maybe you could just show me around, Heather?"

"Fine. I'm watching you three."

"Enough of ya."

Hiccup walked off towards the crowd of people pulling Heather by the wrist. Once they were at the edge of the crowded area Heather decided to speak up.

"Ryder huh?"

"What?"

"It's an interesting name."

"Thanks?"

"It's a compliment, you seem like an interesting guy."

"Oh well, I wouldn't know about that."

"Well where are you from?"

"Far East."

"So…Bashem Oiks tribe?"

"Nope, hey so what's this town called?"

"Well the village doesn't quite have a name. The island is Skull Key Isle though."

"What kind of name is that?"

"Well the name comes from an old myth from around here. Centuries ago, people say over a thousand years ago, there was a master blacksmith that lived here. He could make anything out of any material and with his skills it would be one of the greatest forgings the world could see. He was contracted to make a special key for a very special person, the key was to be one of a kind and able to open every door in the land. The people who heard of this would almost laugh at the thought but the blacksmith agreed and got to work. The key was made, the key was used, the key was the source of war, and the key disappeared. The islands called Skull Key because there was a small silver skull that formed at the base of the key."

"Wow that sounds amazing."

_Hiccup thought that at this point in his travels there were probably a lot of places that had ancient histories and they're probably all much cooler sounding than the actual history. No reason to dispute the story though, it's a nice one._

"Oh it's just a myth though. Imagine a key that opened every lock. We'd still be fighting over it."

"Yeah, probably."

The two were in the middle of the busy part of the village now, from what Hiccup could see this was the main trading and selling area. There were stalls and stores in every direction, some sold clothes, some shops had weapons and shields, there was an armor and accessories shop as well.

"Is there some sort of problem with nearby tribes?"

"Well there's the dragons."

"Dragons?"

"Yeah, the big, scaly, vicious, stupid, destructive things with wings and fire."

"You guys have a dragon problem?"

"Well it's not much of a problem when we kill almost all of them every raid."

Hiccup was shocked. He thought that years ago when they had defeated the seadragonus giganticus maximus the raids had stopped. From what they had seen there wasn't any trouble anywhere else they had flown on the way to this island. He decided to ask Heather where he could pick up some food and camping supplies. She was happy to show him the way and they talked on their walk from place to place, Hiccup got to learn about the raids that started up again. Apparently the raids stopped abruptly a few years ago and there wasn't a single scale in sight during that time. It was the most peaceful any village had been in centuries, and the weapon shops were only a recent resurgence when the raids had started to come back. They weren't around for the first few months in this village but the whole of the archipelago was being swept with raids. Eventually somebody appeared and that person was able to help most tribes fight against the raids and with their help the archipelago made a huge improvement in their defenses to the point that most tribes are extremely grateful to the savior. Hiccup was surprised, there was somebody who had such power that he united the archipelago's most extreme tribes and had them all fight against the dragons, even if there was no need to fight the dragons.

Once Hiccup had finished gathering up everything he need he asked Heather to show him the way out of town. She invited him to stay in town but he declined, he couldn't tell her he had to back to his dragons so instead he said he wouldn't be able to because his original camping spot had everything he owned. It'd be too much trouble brining it all over and with that he left back into the woods. The trek back to the landing spot took a bit longer because of everything he had to carry but he was able to make it back a little before noon. When he got back to the spot he could only see One-eye resting a little beyond the spot in the shade of the trees. Hiccup tried to be as quiet as possible as he approached the large beast but it was no use, One-Eye opened his eye, saw Hiccup and lifted his head.

"Welcome back Hiccup, I see your trip went well."

"Yeah, it uh…it went great."

"I sense trouble in your voice. Was there a problem?"

"No no, there's no problem. Where are Toothless and Woden by the way?"

"They went hunting. I have no need for food as of now so I remained here."

"Well, good to know you all calmed down."

"What do you have planned going forward, if I may ask?"

"Well I'm thinking we could check on the tribes."

"The bastards that ran you out?"

"Well they didn't run me out. They made the decision easier but they didn't run me out."

"I advise against it Hiccup, you've never spoken very well of them."

"Well…we can talk it over when the other two get back."

The two spent the time waiting for the others to get back by sorting their supplies and preparing the camp supplies for Hiccup. It took them a couple of hours and the sun wouldn't go down for a few hours even after they finished everything. A while after they finished the other dragons had returned and the returned with a loud, clanking announcement.

"Why do you sound like you're made of metal Toothless?"

"Well my tail is made of metal right?"

"Ok you're not wrong but you know what I mean."

"We found a large amount of scraps Master, all sorts of buried goods. We found swords and boots and helmets and many other small pieces of metal."

"Awesome, it'll be an easy way to make money if we ever need it."

"Hiccup how were you able to bring so much back? We have yet to come across what you call money."

"I brought a lot of it when I originally left home but haven't had any use for it until now. Lucky I kept any of it."

"So where should we put it?"

"I don't know if we can just sell this stuff though. Let's take it with us and we'll do something eventually. I'm gonna cook some food for myself, you guys can go do whatever you want."

The group spent the few hours before going to sleep talking about whether they should continue going east or check on the status of the archipelago. The dragons were very set on trying to have Hiccup answer why flying through the archipelago is even being considereds, he continued saying it was just a possible adventure they could take and almost dropping the entire conversation for the sake of not telling them the raids started up again. Hiccup decided that since there was at least somebody helping the Viking protect themselves, while also somehow making raids a rare occurrence then for now everything would be fine. They all agreed that for now the best thing for them to do as travelers seeking to explore the world it would be in their best interest to move further west, and so they did.


	39. Chapter 39

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

Before going too far in their travels, Hiccup wanted to have a bit of an understanding as tot where they currently where, Hiccup wanted to know if they were even still in the archipelago. After spending a day flying around their current encampment Hiccup was able to position themselves on the map slightly southeast of the main Bog Burglar home. The bad part about learning where they were was that the Murderous Tribe was also extremely close, much to close for any of them to be comfortable staying long. Hiccup decided it would probably be best if they continued moving and a few days after leaving Mist Key Isle they spotted something really weird, it wasn't extraordinary but for what is was it was perfect for the friends. They spotted a mountain, with a nearly flat top that had walls around the whole top, the only thing Hiccup could liken it to would be if Flashburn had built stone walls around his whole mountain top.

"You guys want to stop there?"

"It's up to you Master."

"Well let's do it then."

The group landed a little offcenter to the whole crater or whatever this was. from the sky they had been able to see two small ponds to one side of the crater, the opposite side had a larger almost lake that touched the walls. There were some trees scattered throughout the large fields, some of which seemed almost unnatural with how tall and healthy they were, and a stray boulder off in the distance from where they had landed.

"This looks like a nice place."

"It seems wonderful Master."

"A nice cold wind is in the air as well."

"Yeah, not as cold as I thought it would be from up high, or as cold as Flashburn's place, but its nice. Toothless, what do you think?"

"It's pretty good."

"Alright, so I think we can make camp here. Looking at the map though, I can't see anything were we probably are so this might be an uncharted island."

"Ooh that makes it even better."

"Does that give you the power to name it Hiccup?"

"Well I guess so."

"What you gonna name it?"

"We can do that later, let's look through our camping supplies. Maybe we can do more than just camp here."

"Do you need our help Hiccup?"

"Well, it's the same small tent as usual so not really, you guys can spend your time looking around if you want."

The dragons removed the, now giant, bags and bid Hiccup a short goodbye so that he would be able to set up camp on his own while they searched the island for anything interesting. Hiccup rummaged through the bags more so to take inventory of everything they had rather than to take out and prepare to camp another night. He took out every single piece of metal the dragons scrounged up back at Mist Key Isle, they weren't kidding when they said they found a lot of scraps, Toothless' bags were filled with almost nothing but the scraps. If he ever wanted to everything would probably sell for a very nice amount of money, the problem was deciding whether he would ever want to go near a human village and at this time the answer was unclear. For the whole day Hiccup was rearranging and organizing everything Toothless had stuffed into his bags, he was shifting through One-Eyes bags which still held all the books Hiccup had taken from the Archives, during the trip he hadn't gotten to read a whole lot but he had managed to read through another few books out of the large amount he had taken. He paused for a second as one book caught his attention, it was a very thin book, with a decorated cover, which was weird considering none of the other books had anything on them except for a short descriptive title. This one had a man on the cover, he was standing triumphantly with some sort of animal, several weapons, a shield and he was wearing a large silver crown with a jewel embedded in it. He opened the book just to be unable to read anything that was inside, or almost anything. The first thing that came to mind was that the book was picked up by his ancestor on some journey far away from the archipelago, but when he was able to read a few words he had to rethink it.

_Maybe people wrote differently a few hundred years ago. From the pictures and a few words though, this just seems like a fairy tale. No reason to throw it out though, let's just put it somewhere else away from the books I need for a new Archives._

By the time the sun had set and the dragons had returned Hiccup was barely getting everything set up for the night. Looking through all the metal Toothless picked up was almost a nightmare, how did this dragon even find all this stuff; boots, broken swords, helmets, and all sorts of trinkets, even a ring with what were probably prison keys. While everybody was getting ready to sleep a thought popped into Hiccup's head, for a second he thought it was much too silly, but maybe it would be possible, he figured he would think it over later.

Hiccup had fled from his village on the Isle of Berk four and a half years ago, during that time he had learned what it meant to have a friend who isn't just by his side, but who wouldn't be able to live without him and whom he couldn't live without. He had learnt of so many different places that were hidden away from the rest of the people of the archipelago and would probably never be visited by anyway from the archipelago, he had visited these wondrous places, learned all sorts of new things and left each place with a new sense of confidence. After leaving his home four and a half years ago he had ventured far outside the archipelago to the east, to the south, and now he was nestled comfortably far to the west on the very brink of the map he had taken from home. During the year to year and a half he had been living on the Mountain of the Quiet Fire, which is what he named this home, he had started to become a bit of an interesting individual with very interesting company. During the time Hiccup, Toothless, Wodensfang, and One-Eye had been living on the mountain, other dragons had started to settle here, dragons of all species, of all sizes and attitudes. The place had turned into a dragon's paradise of sorts, there were small craters throughout the whole fields on the mountain top but it was still very easy to get around. Most of the dragons lived inside the mountain. when they had all first started coming here Hiccup started planning for more to come immediately, he got to work getting as many dragons as possible organized and had them dig into the mountain. There were small pockets of water and rare pockets of lava inside the mountain but during the months and months of work he was able to hollow out a large portion of the mountain, enough so that there was still a lot of room left open, and a lot of mountain left untouched.

On the day of being away from Berk for four and a half years Hiccup was taking a trip down the mountain to the sea. This was the main way for Hiccup to get food for himself, all the other dragons would usually go to hunt in the visible mountains north of their island, or to the string of island to the south. Hiccup had to go to the sea though to be able to get any food he wanted and it was no problem, even spending too much times with dragons would sometimes be a little heavy on his brain, and his throat considering he had to speak in Dragonese most of the time. he had set up a small dock that led at least twenty feet out into the water, it wasn't terribly far away from the island but it was just far enough that he would always be able to get a few catches. He took out a fishing rod, cast into the ocean and looked back towards the mountains. He scanned the rocky, pebble covered beach at the base of the mountain, the rough and rocky side of the mountain he had learned to easily scaled and when he heard the slight creak of his fishing rod he turned around to pick it up.

_First catch of the day took about a minute. It's gonna be a good day._

Hiccup's vision went black and he felt a series of strong blows to his sides. He fell to the floor gasping for air, he felt a strong strike to the side of his head and passed out.

_Dragons…need to warn the dragons…_

* * *

Hiccup woke up, he couldn't see a thing, he couldn't move his arms, he felt a sway from side to side. Hiccup panicked a bit, he had no idea where he was, he didn't know if it was Vikings, Pirates or some other group. There was no way for him to know if anything had happened to the dragons either, if they knew he would be at the dock, there was no way they didn't know about the dragons. He could hear yelling, he was probably right below whoever had jumped him, he could hear the crashing of waves and the booming thunder, it meant he was on a boat and it was raining. He didn't know how far they had gotten though, all these problems, this entire disaster, how had anybody found the island, how did they hide a boat and have people ready to jump him.

_Do they even know about the dragons? Do they know who I am? Am I being hunted? Who would even know where I am, I didn't leave any traces and I haven't been anywhere near Vikings._

"No need to panic young one."

"WHO THE FUCK IS THAT? Where are you? Why did you jump me? How'd you …"

"Shhhh. I am not the one who has angered you. They don't know about your friends either."

"What friends?"

"Child, you are not some simply Viking. You're a wonderful individual."

"How do you know about my friends?"

"The world was bountiful, with all forms of lives living together.

All except the angry one, he couldn't live in harmony with other lives.

He grew to be an angry man, a greedy man.

He tried to overtake all the lives, he wanted to dominate over the other lives.

Another man had grown alongside him though.

This man wanted to live alongside all lives and bring them closer together.

He grew to be an understanding man, a hero.

The Tyrant grew to almost overtake the world.

The King used his belongings and power to stop it.

The old Tyrant fell.

Eventually the old King fell."

"Is that supposed to be a fairy tale?"

"A new Tyrant needs a new king."

Hiccup heard a door swing open and crack against a wall, there were a few footsteps coming into the dark room. A yell bounced off the walls.

"HEY MEAT, WHERE THE FUCK ARE YA? WHERE YA HIDING LITTLE MEAT?"

Hiccup tried to crawl to the corner but was picked up by the collar. There was another powerful strike to his gut and head and Hiccup blacked out once more.


	40. Chapter 40

**The How To Train Your Dragon book series and all its contents belong to Cressida Cowell. The How To Train Your Dragon movie and animated series and all of its contents belong to DreamWorks Studios. I claim no ownership over anything in this fanfic. Be merciful.**

**Well, this fanfic is gonna take elements from the books, movies, and animated series. Hope ya like it, constructional criticism appreciated and welcomed.**

* * *

When Hiccup woke up, he was slung over somebody's shoulder, still blindfolded, and still tied up. From what he could hear though they were walking through a large crowd, he could hear yells and almost make out a chant. Wherever in the world Hiccup passed out, they were a lot further away now.

_So these people don't actually know who I am. If they did, they probably would've referred to me by name on the ship. I can't hear anything familiar so we shouldn't be anywhere familiar. Just what the fuck is going on here, I hope the dragons are ok._

There was a brief muffling of the yells coming from all directions and just as quickly it loudened. Hiccup was able to clearly tell what it was everyone was chanting now.

"BLOOD PIT. BLOOD PIT. BLOOD PIT. BLOOD PIT."

Hiccup would hear it loud and clear, whatever the 'Blood Pit' was, it wasn't going to be good for him no matter what. The man carrying Hiccup stopped, there was a schrill creaking of a door possibly opening up, and with a quick toss Hiccup landed on a rough stone floor. Someone pulled Hiccup by the collar, lifted him up and turned him around, there grabbed onto both of his wrists with ease and undid the knot. Before Hiccup could even start to turn around he was kicked in the back, fell against a stone wall and heard a creak followed by a metallic slam as the only way for him to get out was shut closed. Hiccup took off the blindfold and tried to look around the tiny cell, he couldn't fully extend his arms no matter how he tried, though he was able to stand comfortably and still have a few inches above his head.

"How'd ya get caught little one?"

"Who's there? Where are you?"

"Understandable response fellow Viking."

"Why're you calling me a Viking?"

"Well you're a Viking aren't ya? Even if you don't look the part, a Viking's heart is a unique thing. Full of strength and heritage."

"Well I don't think I have any of that heritage. You avoided my questions too."

"There's give and take young Viking. If you answer mine, I promise to answer yours."

"…"

"Well, that…"

"I got ambushed."

"Interesting. Did they take you…"

"I was at a dock, I've been traveling for a few years now. I was starting to settle in on an island on my own. I go down to a dock every so often to fish and the ambushed me."

"Similar to my experience then."

"Your turn."

"Very well. I'm in a cell close to yours, its difficult to tell if I'm right next to you or not. There's a ring right outside these doors, you'll probably learn its use soon. I'm just a has been at this point. My name doesn't mean what it used to.

"Are you a Viking? If you knew I was a Viking, you would have to be one. Right?"

"My name's Hotshot."

"Hotshot?"

"Well it's Humonguously Hotshot, though I'm not ever slightly large now."

"Humonguously Hotshot the Hero! I know exactly who you are. You were one of the greatest hero's of all time. Every tribe knew your stories, you were the Viking that was caught by a Roman legion, escaped and set fire to nearly every ship that tried to take you back. You fought dragon raids for days without stopping. You disappeared like 12 years ago though?"

"Aye, I've been here for almost all 12 years. It started when I arrived at a new village. They'd been having some trouble with wolves tearing about their main farm to scraps. It only took me a day to find the farm but the Murderous tribe had been waitin. Apparently they'd been waitin for a long time, for someone like me, someone that could fight. They ambushed me and beat me mercilessly until I passed out, punches and kicks nonstop until I didn't move. I've only been trapped for 10 years but I was traveling heavily for two years prior to that. It's been rather rough living this whole time."

"That's terrible. You've been trapped this whole time and I'd almost forgotten about you. Is it completely impossible to get out?"

"Trust me boy, I've thought of every single way to get out and tried so many of them. It's been years since I tried anything and they've never dropped their guard for a second. They've always got guards, there's always an alarm, and they don't slip up when it comes to something like this."

"Have you ever had somebody help you during your attempts?"

"Nobodies lived long enough to help me."

"What in the name of Odin's wrath is this place?"

"Crimson Isle."

"The home to the…"

"The cruelest, most blood hungering and merciless Murderous tribe."

"With Madguts as their leader."

"The same Madguts that slaughtered the last chief and strung him around the village to prove his strength."

"This situation could not be any worse."

The door to Hiccup's cell swung open and almost blinding light rushed in and brightened every corner of the damp, dark cell.

"Gah, what's going on?"

"Time to see if you'll be able to escape or live as I."

A large hand reached into Hiccup's cell, grabbed him by the collar and pulled him out with force Hiccup didn't think was capable by normal Vikings. The hand flung Hiccup out of his cell and threw him into a large arena, it looked similar to the dragon arena that was back on Berk but this one was much larger, and possibly deadlier. There were long or think metal spikes embedded into the wall throughout the wall but in a sparing manner so that there was always a possibility of being impaled and ultimately killed or getting lucky and living if you were cornered. He looked around to try to find whoever had pulled him out, he looked behind him and saw a large, scarred, filthy Viking climbing up a rope. He jumped to feet and rushed the few feet to the wall and jumped at the wall to try to grab the rope but it was quickly pulled from out of his grasp and over the edge of the stone pit. He could see more and more people surround the cage covering the pit, they were waiting for something and once the entre space was taken up Hiccup heard something on his right. He saw a large wood panel attached to the wall lifted and showed a space in the wall covered with all sorts of weapons. He saw a pair of short swords that were probably used together, he saw a very large intricate sword that was not suited for him at all. There were clubs and daggers and even a bow with only a few arrows next to it. Hiccup surveyed the whole wall and found a slightly larger than average sword he put in his left hand and a round shield with a metal frame connecting to the grip on the back. The pieces of wood were painted in a way that depicted a dragon coiling around the center.

"FRESH MEAT. FRESH MEAT. FRESH MEAT. FRESH MEAT."

Hiccup could hear the chants, they were resounding in the pit and making it sound even more menacing and vile, they wanted a fight, they wanted blood, they wanted to see something get torn to shreds and it didn't seem to matter what that was, they wanted murder.

_They're not gonna make me fight Hotshot are they? How crazy can you get? What the fuck is wrong with these people, did they crawl out of the depths of Hell._

"BLOOD PIT. FRESH MEAT. BLOOD PIT. FRESH MEAT.

THE WEAK ARE DEAD, THE STRONG ARE FED."

_What's that even supposed to mean? These people are so crazy for murder they don't even make sense anymore. Toothless, One-Eye, Wodensfang, please be safe._

"You've chosen your weapons already have ya scrawny one? No sense makin ya wait then. I would like to welcome you to the greatest Viking tribe in the whole of the Archipelago. welcome to the Blood Pit of the Murderous tribe on the Red Island. You, scrawny appetizer will fight today, you will die or you will take the first step towards the rest of your life. Let's get on with it now, release the roaring mauler."

_I can't tell if that guy is Madguts or not. I heard the real Madguts barely talks, if he talks at all, and there's a really big guy sitting down in a throne overlooking the pit. Doesn't make much of a difference right now._

A large door opened opposite the side where Hiccup had originally come out and there was a hush over the crowd. A roar blasted out from the still dark cage and then a giant furry beast came rushing out. It exited the cage and stood on its hind legs and let out another sound shattering roar, its head darted around from face to face at the top of the pit, it growled, then it turned its head back to its arena and looked straight at Hiccup.

_This fucking bear is almost bigger than One-Eye, this is what they want me to fight?_

The bear charged at Hiccup at leapt the last few feet and raised its paw high above Hiccup, the paw came crashing down with a crash and shook the immediate area. Hiccup rolled out of the way away from the wall, he slipped up with not being used to the stone and was supporting himself with his hands and knees after failing to get up after dodging.

_I've been spending a lot of time on the ground lately and I really don't like it._

The bear standing on all fours was at least a foot taller than Hiccup standing so when it stood up on its hind legs it could easily double Hiccup's height. The bear lifted its paws and came crashing down trying to both trap Hiccup in the middle of the ring as well as grind him into the ground and give the crowd the bloody mess they want. Hiccup tossed himself a little further back again, he picked himself up and was now guarding himself while making sure he could still slash out if given the chance. The bear was slowly stepping forward and forcing Hiccup to also take small steps back, their eyes were locked, and the bear growled and bared its monstrous teeth as Hiccup was slowing thinking about his reactions to everything he thinks the bear might do. Hiccup jumped out of panic a little as he felt his back hit the rough wall and glanced quickly, just enough for the bear to raise his paws once more so it could slam them down. Hiccup let his body fall a little and covered his body with the shield as much as he could. He stretched his sword arm out over the shield and planted the sword against the shield right as the giant paw came crashing down. The sword easily slid straight through the fur, meat, and just burst out forcing the bear to not even slam into the shield. The bear roared and howled and its saliva spewed out and covered a disgusted Hiccup's hair. The bear was reeling back growling and howling in terrible pain, he tried to set the paw back on the ground but fell down slightly and Hiccup knew this was his perfect chance. He leapt forward and slashed at the other front leg, the bear started to stand on its hind legs and Hiccup decided if he was ever going to have a chance to get out it would be now. He jumped to the side of the bear, placed his shield on the ground and with as much strength as he could muster he crashed into the side of the bear, burying the sword fully into the bear, letting the blood flow onto his hands and cover his armor.

The crowd erupted with cheers and roars as the bear fell.

"THE WEAK ARE DEAD, THE STRONG ARE FED.

THE WEAK ARE DEAD, THE STRONG ARE FED."

_What the fuck does the second part even mean, are they crazy?"_

Hiccup felt something heavy and sticky smash into the back of his head, he was pushed forward a bit and then turned around. He looked at the ground and saw a large piece of mutton.

_Oh… that's what they meant._ _It doesn't make me wanna stay here any longer though._


End file.
